The House held Mark Meadows, former White House Chief of Staff responsible for criminal contempt of Congress as he defied a subpoena which was issued by a committee investigating the January 6th riots at the Capitol building by pro-Trump protesters.
The resolution was approved by a 222-to-208 vote. Only two Republicans, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, joined the Democrats and voted yes.
The matter will now be forwarded to the Justice Department where it will be decided whether the contempt referral will be pursued further or not.
Contempt of Congress is known to be a criminal offense that may end up in a fine of up to $100,000 or a year in jail.
Members of the bipartisan committee had stated that “the information they seek from Meadows, a onetime North Carolina congressman, is not protected under any kind of executive privilege as the bipartisan panel investigates the insurrection, what former president Donald Trump did that fateful day, and the actions leading up to the riot.”
Mark Meadows refused to cooperate with the panel last week after agreeing to give all the vital information which led to the Capitol Building riots.
He stated that the panel is pressuring him to discuss all the issues between him and the former president Donald Trump which are said to be “protected by executive privilege.”
Mark Meadows has presented about thousands of documents in front of the investigative committee which includes countless emails and text messages related to the events that took place that fateful day.
“If you’re making excuses to avoid cooperating with our investigation, you’re making excuses to hide the truth from the American people about what happened on January 6th,” said Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the select committee chairman, during House debate. “You’re making excuses as part of a cover-up.”
“January 6th was without precedent,” said Cheney, who is the vice president of the panel. “There has been no stronger case in our nation’s history for a congressional investigation into the actions of a former president. This body must investigate the facts in detail, and we are entitled to ask Mr. Meadows about the non-privileged materials he has produced to us.”
