Contempt Case to Continue as Mark Meadows Sues Jan. 6 Panel
WASHINGTON — Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol Wednesday after its chairman vowed to pursue contempt charges against the former Trump advisor.
The long running conflict between Meadows and the panel erupted anew on Wednesday after the former Republican congressman announced he would no longer comply with a subpoena issued by the committee.
Meadows’ 11th hour decision was a shocker after he apparently agonized before announcing his intention to cooperate with the committee – on certain areas – earlier in the week.
Meadows’ lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Washington, in the shadow of Capitol Hill, asks that the two subpoenas issued him be tossed on the grounds that they are “overly broad and unduly burdensome.”
He also seems particularly irked that the committee subpoenaed his Verizon cell phone records.
Such an action, by “an entirely partisan select committee” would have a “massive chilling effect on current and future executive branch officials.”
He also complains that such a move is a violation of his constitutional rights of association and free speech.
The latest turn of events came after Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson said he had “no choice” but to proceed with contempt charges against Meadows after he failed to show up for a scheduled deposition.
“That he [Meadows] would sell his telling of the facts of that day while denying a congressional committee the opportunity to ask him about the attack on our Capitol marks an historic and aggressive defiance of Congress,” Thompson said in a letter to Meadows’ attorney, George Terwilliger.
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