The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection said it was dumbfounded as to why former chief of staff Mark Meadows won’t appear before its committee—even after turning over damning text messages. In a Tuesday letter to Meadows’ lawyer, chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said one of Meadows’ texts included him praising a member of Congress’ idea of ditching state electors who wouldn’t overturn the election. “I love it,” Meadows texted, according to the letter.
Meadows also exchanged texts with the organizer of the Jan. 6 rally former President Donald Trump spoke at, according to the letter. Thompson wrote in his Tuesday letter that if Meadows didn’t show up for his deposition on Wednesday, the committee would be “left with no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution.” It would make Meadows the second person to face criminal charges for refusing to cooperate after Steve Bannon was arrested and indicted for contempt of Congress. Bannon is attempting to make the charge a political referendum on Democratic leadership.
Read it at Axios
