WASHINGTON (AP) – The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is set to recommend contempt charges against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Monday as lawmakers seek his testimony about President Donald Trump’s discussions and actions before the attack by his supporters.
In laying out the case for the contempt vote, the nine-member panel released a 51-page report Sunday evening that details its questions about the thousands of emails and texts he has already provided – including 6,600 pages of records taken from personal email accounts and about 2,000 text messages. The committee is recommending the contempt charges after Meadows ceased cooperating and did not show up for a deposition last week.
The panel has not released the documents, but the report says they include exchanges about Meadows efforts’ to help Trump overturn his defeat in the presidential election, communications with members of Congress and organizers of a rally held the morning of the insurrection and frantic messages among aides and others as the violent attack unfolded that day.
As part of its list of questions for Meadows, the panel says it wants to know more about whether Trump was engaged in discussions regarding the response of the National Guard, which was delayed for hours as the violence escalated and the rioters beat police guarding the Capitol building.
The documents provided by Meadows include an email he sent to an unidentified person saying that the Guard would be present to “protect pro Trump people,” the panel said, and that more would be available on standby. The committee did not release any additional details about the email.