Mark Meadows Held in Contempt of Congress by Jan. 6 Committee

After previously pledging to cooperate, Mark Meadows was held in contempt of Congress. The Jan. 6 committee also released a portion of his communications from that day.

Summary

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol voted yesterday to hold former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress.

• Despite turning over thousands of documents, including text messages during the events in question, Meadows is refusing to appear before the committee and testify. 
• One of those documents, dated Jan 5, indicate Meadows believed the National Guard was ready to “protect pro Trump people”, though Politico admits “the context for the message is unclear.” 
• The committee released a trove of communications handed over by Meadows, including text messages he received from a variety of Fox News personalities and Donald Trump, Jr. blasting former President Trump for not doing enough to stop the Jan. 6 attack. 
• The contempt vote for Meadows comes less than a month after he agreed to cooperate with the committee, an agreement he retracted shortly after.

• The Daily Beast framed the situation around Meadows as perilous, arguing his handling of government matters on personal email services runs afoul of records retention laws and that Meadows’ use of campaign funds for personal and government use may also pose a legal problem. 
• The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent criticizes passages of Meadows’ new book, likening it to North Korean propaganda, given the revelations gleaned from documents released by the Jan. 6 committee which appear to contradict Meadows’ book. 
• MSNBC’s Glenn Kirschner speculated on Meadows’ “flip flop” with the committee, suggesting it could have been an effort to bolster book sales or to prevent himself from being forced to plead the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

• OANN did not discuss the developments surrounding Mark Meadows but interviewed an organizer of the Stop The Steal rally who said he was being targeted because he is a conservative. 
• Newsmax interviewed Mark Meadows who argued the committee’s release of his text messages were “selectively leaked” to paint him in an especially negative light and “to spin a false narrative.” 
• RedState’s Bonchie argued the contents of Meadows’ text messages released actually run counter to the narrative of “some grand conspiracy to overthrow the US government” those investigating the event allege.

Return to Freespoke

© Dallas Gerber, 2021