Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and members of the Jan. 6 Committee over their subpoena dispute.
Meadows was one of dozens of former Trump staffers and associates subpoenaed by the committee to testify or provide documents relating to the rioting at the U.S. Capitol in January.
On Wednesday, he informed the committee that he would no longer cooperate with their inquiry, prompting threats from the committee that they would seek to hold him in contempt of Congress and seek criminal charges. Similar charges were made against Stephen Bannon, the former advisor to Trump, when he refused to cooperate.
Meadows was scheduled to appear for a deposition on Wednesday morning but he failed to show up.
Committee chair Bennie Thompson then issued a letter to the attorney representing Meadows, informing them of the committee’s decision to seek criminal charges.
“The Select Committee is 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,” said Thompson.
“There is no legitimate legal basis for Mr. Meadows to refuse to cooperate with the Select Committee and answer questions about the documents he produced, the personal devices and accounts he used, the events he wrote about in his newly released book, and, among other things, his other public statements,” he added.
Meadows is asking a federal court to block two subpoenas issued by the committee, one to himself and the other to Verizon in regard to his phone records.
Despite the lawsuit, Meadows had already handed over approximately 6,000 pages of documents that the committee requested, including some text conversations about the rally that precipitated the rioting.
Bannon’s trial is scheduled to begin July 18.
Here’s more about the subpoena tussle with Meadows:
Jan. 6 Committee To Move Ahead With Contempt Charges Against Mark Meadows www.youtube.com