Panel investigating robbery on Capitol Hill votes whether to seek charges against former Trump chief of staff

The House committee investigating the assault on Capitol He is preparing to vote on Monday if he asks for contempt charges against Mark Meadows, former chief of staff of Donald Trump, for refusing to testify.

LOOK: Mark Meadows: another ex-ally complicating Donald Trump

Meadows has said he has no intention of appearing before the multi-party Congressional committee. Last week he did not appear to testify as scheduled, for the second time.

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“The failure of Meadows to appear to testify … after being given a second opportunity to cooperate with the committee constitutes an intentional breach of the subpoena,” the committee says.

The panel investigates Trump’s efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which he was defeated by Joe Biden, through a campaign that degenerated in the assault on Capitol Hill, and whether Meadows helped him.

The fourth and final White House chief of staff under Trump told the panel that he would not cooperate until a request from his former chief was resolved, requesting to avail himself of “executive privilege,” which allows presidents to keep certain secrets. conversations with your advisers.

The investigators affirm that Meadows cannot invoke the right to remain silent since this ultra-conservative ex-congressman published a memoir last week in which he mentions events that occurred on January 6 and conversations with Trump.

Last week, an appeals court rejected Trump’s request on the grounds that the former president has given no compelling reasons why his conversations with former advisers should be kept secret. You have two weeks to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Meadows was Trump’s top aide at the time of the riots and is believed to have been in the company of the then president at the White House when the rioters stormed the Capitol.

The committee says that Meadows “is very well placed to provide key information, having had an official role in the White House and an informal one in the campaign for Trump’s re-election.”

Before saying he was unwilling to cooperate further, Meadows voluntarily provided the committee with 6,600 pages of documentation, including emails from personal accounts and about 2,000 text messages.

– ‘Senseless and injustice’ –

A 51-page document with parts of those messages was released Sunday, including a Jan. 5 email from Meadows that told an unidentified person that the National Guard was ready to “protect the pro-Trumps.”

This Monday night the committee will likely give the green light to a contempt summons and the entire Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to refer the Meadows case to the Justice Department for consideration of possible charges.

If convicted, Meadows could face six months in jail for each count of contempt, but he will most likely be fined.

Meadows accuses the committee of abuse of powers and last week filed a lawsuit against its nine members and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to request that a federal court block the application of the subpoenas issued against him and another issued in order to access your phone records.

His attorney, George Terwilliger, wrote to the panel Monday to complain that the prosecution is “manifestly unwise, unjust and iniquitous.”

Thousands of Trump supporters, many of them linked to ultranationalist and white supremacist groups, stormed the Capitol 11 months ago in an attempt to overturn Biden’s election victory.

That day Trump falsely denounced electoral fraud and asked his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”

The House of Representatives recommended bringing charges against former White House strategist and right-wing agitator Steve Bannon in October. In July, he will face a contempt trial.

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Deshawn