U.S. House of Representatives votes to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to hold a former colleague, Mark Meadows, in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to testify in front of the committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The 222 – 208 vote to move forward with prosecuting the former North Carolina GOP congressman, who served as Trump’s chief of staff, came after an impassioned defense by his House Freedom Caucus co-founder and close friend, Champaign County, Ohio, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. He protested that his colleagues were “destroying executive privilege” by refusing to respect Meadows’ invocation of the principle when Meadows declined to testify before the committee after giving it thousands of documents.

“What a charade,” Jordan proclaimed. “Make no mistake, when Democrats vote in favor of this resolution, it is a vote to put a good man in prison. … We all know what a good man he is. And this is as wrong as it gets. You all know it. But your lust for power, your lust to get your opponents is so intense, you don’t care.”

The Justice Department will decide whether to prosecute Meadows for contempt of Congress, a misdemeanor offense that carries a minimum sentence of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail, as well as a fine of $100 to $100,000. Last month, it indicted Trump advisor Steve Bannon on contempt of Congress charges for defying a subpoena from the same committee. Bannon has pleaded not guilty.

The chair of the investigative committee, Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, noted that Meadows demanded testimony from senior executive branch officials as a member of the House Oversight Committee “and chided those who failed to cooperate with congressional oversight.” Thompson said “there was a steady stream of communication between certain members of Congress and Mr. Meadows about matters central to our investigation.

“We have questions about those communications,” Thompson said. “We will pursue those questions and we won’t let the facts be buried by a cover-up.”

The committee’s top Republican, Wyoming’s Liz Cheney, said Meadows is refusing to testify about questions that aren’t covered by executive privilege.

“My colleague from Ohio can talk as much as he’d like about executive privilege and about the extent to which it’s crucial for the survival of the republic, with which I agree, but we are talking here about testimony about non-privileged material,” Cheney said in response to Jordan.

Cheney said Trump provoked his supporters to violence with false claims the election was stolen and shirked his responsibility to call off the mob that rampaged through the Capitol in an unsuccessful effort to keep Congress from counting electoral votes that awarded the presidency to Democrat Joe Biden.

She said Meadows turned over numerous text messages to the committee without claiming privilege, some of which “came from members in the chamber right now. Members who understood that an assault was underway at the Capitol. Members who pleaded with the chief of staff to get the president to take action.”

She also said that even…