Mark Meadows Could Be Next In Line For Criminal Contempt In January 6th Investigation
Steve Bannon is facing criminal contempt charges after refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by a House Committee. Mark Meadows could be next in line, as the January 6th Committee indicates he’s still dragging his feet through ‘negotiations’ about whether and to what extent he’ll cooperate with the investigation.
According to Politico, Bannon’s indictment is having the desired effect: it’s deterring other witnesses to the January 6th attack from engaging in the same defiance. However, it’s not moving every subpoenaed witness to cooperation. The other two major holdouts are Meadows and Dan Scavino, and the committee could decide to take more drastic measures with these witnesses as well.
Bannon, as a former advisor to Donald Trump; Meadows, as Trump’s Chief of Staff; and Scavino, as Trump’s social media manager, were all subpoenaed to testify before a House Committee about the days leading up to the attack on Congress. Investigators want to know what Trump knew in advance of the attack, and who else was involved in planning or easing the way of attackers. Though Committee members say that Bannon’s indictment has loosened the lips of some Trump allies, they also don’t expect that his highest-level inner-circle members are going to crack, and they’re considering asking the Justice Department to move forward with charges for Meadows next.
Meadows is among those in the Trump camp who used rhetoric about “fighting back” to overturn the election in the days leading up to the electoral vote certification.
We’re now at well over 100 House members and a dozen Senators ready to stand up for election integrity and object to certification.
It’s time to fight back.
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) January 3, 2021
He’s also among those that organizers told Rolling Stone “had an opportunity to prevent the violence” that day, as multiple people raised concerns to him warning that there was reason to expect it. Organizers say that he was part of conversations and planning for the day’s events, and that he ” was 100 percent made aware of what was going on.”
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