Attorney General Merrick Garland's Justice Department faces another politically charged decision of other to indict former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows after the House voted Tuesday night to hold him in contempt of Congress.
It took less than a month for DOJ to indict former Trump chief White House strategist Steven Bannon after Congress voted to hold him in contempt Oct. 21 – in a case where legal experts said the basis for executive privilege that Bannon cited while resisting a subpoena was weaker.
With Meadows, who was serving as Trump's top aide during the weeks before and after the Jan. 6th Capitol riot, lawmakers on the Jan. 6th Committee have acknowledged there may be some privilege claims. Although they argued in floor debate Tuesday night that Meadows waived some of them by writing about events, and by handing over thousands of documents during initial cooperation with the House select committee on Jan. 6th.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced an indictment of former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon weeks after the House voted to hold him in contempt. DOJ now must decide whether to charge Mark Meadows as well
In their extraordinary rollout, members of the Jan. 6th panel read more texts during floor debate that unidentified Republican lawmakers sent to Meadows amid Trump's election overturn effort.
In one newly revealed email, shared by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on the floor, an unidentified Republican called for having states 'just send their own electors' who would back Trump.
'HERE’S an AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY: WHY can t [sic] the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS,' according to the text – which the lawmaker sent to Meadows on Nov. 4, just a day after the 2020 elections, while states were still processing mail and absentee ballots.
SCOTUS refers to the Supreme Court, where Trump helped establish a 6-3 conservative majority after pushing through the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) read a text from Nov. 4th, while the votes were still being counted, where a lawmaker proposed a plan to have the election decided in the Supreme Court
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) read from texts a Georgia official sent to Meadows
Additional text messages were revealed on the House floor as Democrats and Republicans debated the contempt charge
'How did the following text from a House lawmaker influence Trump's plans to overthrow Joe Biden's Electoral College majority of 306 to 232 after Joe Biden beat Donald Trump,' Raskin said.
'How did this text influence the planning of Mark Meadows and Donald Trump to try to destroy the lawful electoral college majority that had been established by the people of the United States and the states for Joe Biden. Those are the kinds of questions that we have a right to ask Mark Meadows,' he continued.
The Jan. 6th panel tweeted out that and other texts Tuesday night.
'All of these texts are non-privileged, they are texts that Mark Meadows has turned over. This Committee must get to the objective truth and ensure that January 6th never happens again. And that means Meadows needs to come in and answer questions about these messages,' the panel said.
The House voted 222 to 208, with two Republicans joining Democrats, to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress, which refers the matter to DOJ for any charging decision.
Meadows ally Jim Jordan referenced the prospect that such a charge, if it leads to a conviction, could land Meadows in jail.
He called the resolution 'a vote to put a good man in prison' and blasted the majority for 'treating Mark Meadows as a criminal. Mark meadows is our former colleague. He is a good man and he is my friend. This is as wrong as it gets,' he said.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said some of Jordan's comments were 'flat false' on the facts, and said Meadows declined to show up for a deposition date that he chose himself.
Earlier Tuesday, Cheney had told lawmakers about texts unidentified lawmakers sent to Meadows amid the Capitol riot, while lawmakers were barricaded inside offices and committee rooms. 'It is really bad up here on the Hill,' one wrote him, according to Cheney. 'The president needs to stop this ASAP,' wrote another.
'Fix this now,' wrote a third lawmaker.
Jan. 6th committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren read a message to Meadows sent by an unnamed Georgia state official on January 2. The Georgia election official wrote Meadows during the infamous call where Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to 'find' 11,780 votes.
'Need to end this call,' the text read. 'I don't think this will be productive for much longer,' read another. Lofgren said lawmakers want to question Meadows about those texts – which were among those he handed over.
Rep. Elaine Luria cited another text, one of many she said came in from another unidentified lawmaker, which said 'Please check your signal' – a reference to a messaging app.
'Those Signal messages are encrypted. Only Mr. Meadows can tell us what they said,' Luria said.
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