The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to refer former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee.
The vote was 222-208.
Only two Republicans voted for contempt: Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY). Both also serve on the Jan. 6 committee.
Earlier this year, nine Republicans joined Democrats to hold former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon in contempt.
Now the referral gets kicked over to the Department of Justice, where Attorney General Merrick Garland will decide whether to pursue the recommended charges against Meadows.
The former White House official’s hot-and-cold interactions with the Jan. 6 committee saw him initially defy the subpoena on the basis of “executive privilege,” then cooperate with the committee and voluntarily hand over his texts and emails, only for him to reverse course yet again and refuse to cooperate. Then Meadows filed a lawsuit against the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) last week.
Prior to the House’s vote on Tuesday, the Jan. 6 committee revealed several bombshell texts Meadows had received during the insurrection from key allies, including three Fox News hosts and Don Jr., pleading for Trump to put a stop to the violence at the Capitol.
A minidrama erupted on the floor ahead of the Meadows contempt vote, when Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) accused House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) of “disparaging” Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN). Hoyer noted that Banks voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results and against forming an independent Jan. 6 commission, before saying that he is “not surprised that the gentleman from Indiana does not want to see this subpoena honored because I believe that he fears the information that would be brought forward.”
“Fearing the truth is not an excuse for not honoring a subpoena of this Congress,” Hoyer said.
Perry then demanded for Hoyer’s words to be taken down for “disparaging” Banks — an effort that ultimately failed after the chair ruled that Hoyer’s words did not need to be taken down because they weren’t “unparliamentary.” Perry previously acknowledged that he connected Trump with Jeffrey Clark, a Trump administration Justice Department official subpoenaed by the committee who attempted to use department resources to bolster Trump’s election fraud falsehoods.
The House’s vote was delayed hours following the dispute.
Meadows is now the second of President Donald Trump’s top cronies to stare down the barrel of contempt charges for stonewalling the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation into the Capitol insurrection. Bannon was charged with contempt last month, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
It makes a person wonder if Meadows has a sense of his place in history. Does he want to be remembered as one of the people who tried to enable a US presidential coup, or as someone who, even if after the fact, helped try to make sure another attempt won’t be made.
Yay, and I hope meadowmuffins feels a bit squirmy in his shorts tonight. For the inevitable usuals who will bitch about his trial date being scheduled for sometime next summer, that’s just how it works: a criminal contempt of congress indictment (and conviction) does not force the mook to testify, it just enslammerates him for a month or two, with a fine of up to 100k. ETA: if the USDA DC secures an indictment, that indictment does not go away on Jan 3 2023 like a congressional subpoena does. Indictments are forever.
Now do Jefferpunk Clark next please, critters.
Also, who’s paying for meadowmuffins’ lawyers, led by Terwilliger?
No, Garland does not make the call, though the person who does will most certainly check with Garland before making a decision whether or not to present an indictment to a grand jury. That person is USDA for DC Matthew Graves, who was finally approved by the senate on Oct 28 and sworn in on Nov 5, and in less than a week on the job had secured the indictment of Bannon for criminal contempt of congress.
ETA: Graves was in nomination limbo for about 5 months. Nothing stopping him from having “hypothetical” discussions with the AG during that period. So perhaps no check-in needed.
He will be remembered as being dumber than a stump. Dumber than a principal in an Adam Sandler movie. Dumber than a rock that was fetched from the abyss of the Marianas Trench and dumped right back overboard for being useless.
I don’t get the sense he has a sense of where he is in anything anymore. He’s flailing around, a rudderless fool who got way to close to the hot core of that which makes everything die. Die he will, but first he’s going to shit himself and puke and poke his eyes out and give tfg a few more blowjobs. I say you go boy.