The House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol building in January is growing weary of Mark Meadows, a former Trump aide who delayed sending key documents and giving testimony.
Meadows, who served as Trump’s chief of staff during the Capitol attack, Was first subpoenaed in September by the January 6-commission. Since then, the commission has noted that he’s been “engaging” with themNegotiating the terms of his transferring documents relevant for their inquiry as well as details of how he will testify behind closed door doors.
Meadows was apparently working with the commission and the select committee granted him an indefinite delay to the deadline they had originally specified in their subpoena orders. However, some members of that commission are becoming increasingly annoyed by his incessant delays.
“Our patience isn’t unlimited, and engagement needs to become cooperation very soon,” one source within the commission said to CNN regarding Meadows’s delays.
According to the source, Meadows is willing to cooperate with the commission to speed up the process. Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress vote in the House last week. Bannon, citing dubious claims about executive privilege, refused to testify before the commission and to hand over any relevant documents.
“As we’ve already made clear, anyone who tries to stonewall our effort will face the consequences,” the source said.
Representative Bennie Thompson (D. Mississippi), cochair of the select commission, said CNN that the commission hasn’t yet reached the point where Meadows will be threatened with contempt charges if he doesn’t cooperate. But it is possible.
“If and when the [select committee] staff says to us it’s not going anywhere, there won’t be any hesitation on the part of the committee to make the referrals,” Thompson said.
As Trump’s chief of staff on the day of the Capitol attack, Meadows has a breadth of information regarding the former president’s state of mind that day, and how he reacted to the breach of the building.
In the subpoena order to Meadows, the commission wrote that his involvement in “multiple elements of the planning and preparation of efforts to contest the presidential election and delay the counting of electoral votes,” as well as his communication with protest organizers that day, is critical to their investigative work.
New reporting from Rolling StoneIt also indicates that Meadows was warned the protest could turn violentBut he did not act on these warnings, failing in any way to prepare or form a contingency planning. Meadows will likely be asked by the commission to discuss this matter.
