A House of Representatives commission investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol stepped up its legal campaign against former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows late Friday, passing a summary sentence asking a judge to order additional documents.
Meadows provided some documents to the committee, including text messages from a wide range of Republicans and even Fox News presenters, which have since been made public in other actions and subpoenas submitted by the committee.
But the latest dossier outlines seven areas of investigation in which the commission says Meadows can provide information despite allegations of executive privilege.
The court cites Meadows as a key figure in former President Trump’s efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. has continued, despite receiving intelligence that there may be violence on January 6.
“Mr Meadows, as a functionary of Trump’s campaign, is involved in activities designed to lead government officials and the legislature to change certified election results,” the commission said in a statement, citing Trump’s now-famous appeal in which the former president asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” more votes.
“In addition, Mr. Meadows has communicated repeatedly through text messages with Congressman Scott Perry about a plan to change the leadership of the Department of Justice in the days before January 6,” it added.
The commission also said the testimony of numerous White House officials showed that Meadows had continued his efforts to keep Trump in power, despite indications from White House advisers that such plans were illegal.
“The now-elected committee has evidence from other White House officials that Mr. Meadows and some congressmen have been advised by a White House adviser that efforts to generate fake certificates are not in line with the law,” the committee said.
“Certain text communications with members of Congress suggest that Mr Meadows himself has ‘urged’ Vice President Pence to take unilateral action to reject the January 6 vote count,” he added.
The committee’s statement comes shortly after a vote in December to refer Meadows to the Department of Justice for contempt of Congress, an indictment on which the Department of Justice has not yet acted, although it has accepted a similar referral to one-time White House strategist Steve Bannon. .
While Meadows was due to appear before commission investigators on December 8, he informed them on December 7 that he would not be coming again, instead filing a lawsuit challenging his subpoena for his testimony.
“Today, the statement of the elected committee calls on the Court to reject the unsubstantiated allegations of Mark Meadows and to put an end to his obstruction of our investigation. Mr Meadows is behind widespread claims to executive privilege, although much of the information we are seeking could not be covered by privilege, and the courts have rejected such allegations, as the commission’s interest in finding out the truth is so insurmountable, ”Commission Chairman Benny Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in a joint statement.
“It is essential that the American people fully understand the role of Mr Meadows in the events before, on and after January 6. His attempt to use the courts to conceal this information must end. “
The commission outlines a number of arguments to reject Meadows’ claims to executive privilege, arguing that much of his work goes beyond communicating with other White House officials. In other cases, they say the information he can provide meets standards that require disclosure when Congress can demonstrate a “deep” and “uniquely captivating” interest.
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The request also aims to counter Meadow’s efforts to block Verizon from complying with a separate subpoena from the Commission on Remaining Phone Records.
Meadow’s lawyer did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Updated at 23:47
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