‘I Love It’: Mark Meadows Texts Reveal He Backed ‘Controversial’ Plan to Overthrow the 2020 Election

Ken MeyerDec 8th, 2021, 10:54 am
 

Then-WH Chief of Staff talks to reporters

January 6th Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) announced he will charge Mark Meadows for contempt of Congress now that the former White House chief of staff will no longer comply with the investigation into the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger told Fox News on Tuesday that his client won’t cooperate with the committee because of their attempts to press Meadows on matters he claims fall under executive privilege. On Wednesday, Thompson’s office released a statement challenging Meadows’ broad claims to executive privilege, and called him out for resisting subpoenas and refusing to turn over numerous documents of interest.

Referring to the documents that Meadows did hand over, Thompson’s letter calls him out of a text exchange he had “with a Member of Congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the Member acknowledged would be “highly controversial” and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, “I love it.” This would seem relevant to Donald Trump’s demand that his allies find a way to stop Congress from certifying his 2020 election defeat.

The letter also refers to “an early January 2021 text message exchange between Mr. Meadows and an organizer of the January 6th rally on the Ellipse; and text messages about the need for the former President to issue a public statement that could have stopped the January 6th attack on the Capitol.” It also defends the committee’s attempts to come up with an arrangement for Meadows to testify before them in a deposition.

In summary, on November 12, 2021, Mr. Meadows failed to appear for the deposition required by the Select Committee’s subpoena. On November 22, 2021, the Select Committee gave Mr. Meadows an opportunity to cure his non-compliance by appearing for a deposition, which was ultimately scheduled for December 8, 2021. Now, the day before the deposition, Mr. Meadows has rejected the opportunity to cure his non-compliance and made it clear that he does not intend to participate in a deposition. There is no legitimate legal basis for Mr. Meadows to refuse to cooperate with the Select Committee and answer questions about the documents he produced, the personal devices and accounts he used, the events he wrote about in his newly released book,’ and, among other things, his other public statements. The Select Committee is left with no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution.

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