BREAKING NEWS: Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows now faces criminal contempt of Congress charges for REFUSING to appear for his January 6 testimony
Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows is facing criminal contempt of Congress charges for refusing to appear for testimony in front of the January 6 committee.
Panel chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, wrote to Meadows' attorney on Thursday night to say there is 'no valid legal basis' for Meadow's noncompliance with panel's subpoena and gave him until 10am on Friday to respond.
Meadows defied the request and now could be the second Trump aide to be potentially hit with charges after the House referred Steve Bannon to the Department of Justice last month.
The White House counsel's office told Meadows he had no claims of privilege to avoiding appearing before the committee and on Thursday, Thompson warned that Meadows could face criminal charges if he doesn't appear.
'The Select Committee will view Mr. Meadows's failure to appear at the deposition, and to produce responsive documents ... as willful non-compliance. Such willful noncompliance with the subpoena would force the Select Committee to consider invoking the contempt of Congress procedures,' Thompson noted, 'which could result in a referral from the House of Representatives to the Department of Justice for criminal charges.'
The White House on Thursday notified Meadows' lawyer that President Joe Biden would waive any executive privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee's investigation.
Meadows' attorney George Terwilliger has said his client 'remains under the instruction of former President Trump to respect longstanding principles of executive privilege.'
'Legal disputes are appropriately resolved by courts,' said Terwilliger said in a statement Friday morning. 'It would be irresponsible for Mr. Meadows to prematurely resolve that dispute by voluntarily waiving privileges that are at the heart of those legal issues.'
The House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection in the Capitol told former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows that he must appear for his deposition at 10 am on Friday or he will be considered in contempt of Congress.
The panel had said it was subpoenaing Meadows because he was within the 'vicinity' of Donald Trump on Jan. 6, and had communications with Trump and others 'regarding the events at the Capitol' and 'are a witness concerning events that day'
White House deputy counsel Jonathan Su wrote to George Terwilliger to tell him of the finding.
'The President believes that the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield information reflecting an effort to subvert the Constitution itself, and indeed believes that such an assertion in this circumstance would be at odds with the principles that underlie the privilege,' Su wrote.
Biden 'has determined that he will not assert executive privilege with respect to your client's deposition testimony on these subjects, or any documents your client may possess that bear on them,' Su noted. 'For the same reasons, underlying his decisions on executive privilege, President Biden has determined that he will not assert immunity to preclude your client from testifying before the Select Committee.'
Thompson noted that finding in his letter to Terwilliger, writing the ruling from Biden's White House counsel on the matter 'eviscerates any plausible claim of testimonial immunity or executive privilege, and compels compliance with the Select Committee's subpoena.'
But Terwilliger suggested in a statement earlier Thursday - after receiving Su's letter but before Thompson's letter - that Meadows would not comply with the committee's demands until the legal disputes were resolved.
'Contrary to decades of consistent bipartisan opinions from the Justice Department that senior aides cannot be compelled by Congress to give testimony, this is the first president to make not effort whatsoever to protect presidential communications from being the subject of compelled testimony,' he wrote.
'Mr. Meadows remains under the instruction of former President Trump to respect longstanding principles of executive privilege. It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict,' he noted.
Trump has ordered his former aides not to cooperate with the House committee's probe.
The committee has subpoenaed Meadows and at least 35 others in their investigation into what happened at the White House on January 6 and the efforts to overturn the election results.
The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6th Attack on the Capitol issued its first subpoenas on September 21 – targeting Meadows, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, longtime Trump and White House aide Dan Scavino, and former Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel.
Meadows featured prominently in Trump's efforts to pressure state official in Georgia and other states where Trump pushed claims of election fraud as part of his election overturn effort.
'While serving as White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows reportedly communicated with officials at the state level and in the Department of Justice as part of an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election or prevent the election's certification,' according to the committee release on the subpoena.
The Meadows letter says it appears he was within the 'vicinity' of Trump on Jan. 6, and had communications with Trump and others 'regarding the events at the Capitol' and 'are a witness concerning events that day.'
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