WASHINGTON (AP) – Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff during Donald Trump’s presidency, sued the House committee investigating the Jan.6 assault on the Capitol after the panel chairman announced that Meadows will face contempt charges for failure to testify.
The actions highlighted tensions between the commission and Meadows, which Democratic lawmakers see as a key player in their investigation, and also reflected a notable turnaround from last week, when Meadows declared its intention to cooperate with commission on certain parts of your inquiry.
Meadows’ lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, asks a judge to invalidate the two subpoenas that it said are “too broad and excessively burdensome.” It also accused the commission of overreaching by issuing a subpoena to Verizon to obtain your cell phone records.
“Allowing a wholly partisan select committee in Congress to issue a subpoena to obtain the personal data of the mobile phones of executive officials would generate a massive paralysis of the rights of association and freedom of expression of current and future officials of the executive branch.” , says the lawsuit.
The court document was filed hours after the Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the commission, declared that he had “no other option” except to proceed with the contempt charges against Meadows. He did not appear to testify on Wednesday as scheduled after his attorney, George Terwilliger, told the commission that his client will no longer cooperate.
Thompson noted that Meadows has already provided documents to the commission, including personal emails and text messages about Trump’s attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, and has also published a book, which was released this week, in The one talking about the January 6 raid.
“That he sold his account of the events that occurred that day while denying the commission the opportunity to ask him about the attack on our Capitol represents a historic and aggressive rebellion to Congress,” Thompson said in a letter to Terwilliger.
The action to hold Meadows in contempt came at a time when the commission has struggled to get some of the former president’s closest and high-profile allies to cooperate with the investigation. In any case, the panel has already conducted more than 250 interviews with witnesses about the insurrection.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Thompson said he hadn’t read it yet, but questions its value because the House of Representatives legitimately formed the commission.
He noted that the investigation is not dependent on Meadows or other witnesses.
“We move on,” he said, adding that several witnesses will testify before the panel this week.
Commission leaders have said they intend to punish anyone who does not cooperate with the investigation, and the House of Representatives has already authorized holding longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt after he defied the subpoena. The Justice Department indicted Bannon on two counts.
———
The Associated Press journalists Eric Tucker and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
