Mark Meadows faces contempt vote in House

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol released new text messages obtained from former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that were sent to him in the days leading up to the insurrection and while the Capitol was under siege.

The messages were read by committee members on the House floor Tuesday during debate over referring a criminal contempt of Congress against Meadows to the Justice Department. They included messages from a Georgia government official sent to Meadows while then-President Trump was on the phone with Georgia's secretary of state urging him to "find" votes for Trump, as well as discussions of Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden.

The committee also released a text Meadows sent to a member of Congress detailing Trump's views about Vice President Mike Pence and state legislatures trying to overturn the election result.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat on the select panel, read a text message from an unnamed Georgia government official sent to Meadows during the Jan. 2 call.

"Need to end this call," the official wrote. "I don't think this will be productive for much longer."

Rep. Adam Schiff, another California Democrat on the committee, read a text from an unknown number that applauded the potential appointment of Jeffery Clark to be acting attorney general while Trump tried to get the Justice Department to support his false claims of election fraud. Clark was one of the big proponents at the DOJ who was pushing to use the power of the department to investigate unfounded claims of voter fraud, but he was rebuffed by the department's leaders.

"I heard Jeff Clark is getting put in on Monday. That's amazing. It will make a lot of patriots happy, and I'm personally so proud that you are at the tip of the spear, and I could call you a friend," the text to Meadows read.

Rep. Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat, referenced a text message Meadows sent to an unspecified member of Congress on Jan. 3 about whether Pence could overturn the election when he presided over the Jan. 6 congressional certification of the Electoral College results. The text was previously mentioned in the committee’s report on Sunday.

"He thinks the legislatures have the power but that the Vp has power too," Meadows wrote to the member, according to the committee.

In another text message from Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the election, a member suggested to Meadows an "aggressive strategy" for Republican-led state legislatures to "just send their own electors" to Congress and let the Supreme Court decide who won the election.

Another text message from a member to Meadows underscored how the committee has not received everything from the former White House chief of staff.

"Please check your signal," the Jan. 5 message said, a reference to the encrypted messaging application Signal.

More on the messages: The Jan. 6 committee members did not identify who sent Meadows the messages they revealed Tuesday, but they argued that the messages were part of a litany of evidence showing how Meadows was in contempt of Congress after he reversed his decision to cooperate with the committee's investigation.

"Mr. Meadows received numerous text messages, which he has produced without any privilege claim, imploring that Mr. Trump take specific action we all know his duty required," said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two Republicans on the select committee. "Indeed, some of those text messages, madam speaker, came from members in the chamber right now."

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the select committee's chairman, told CNN on Tuesday the panel will "make a decision within a week or so when to release" the names of the authors of the texts to Meadows. At this point, he added, the panel had only identified House members who had sent their former House colleague text messages, and not Republican senators.

2 hr 12 min ago

Key things to know about the Mark Meadows criminal contempt referral as we await a House vote

From CNN's Zachary Cohen

The House is set to vote soon on whether former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows should be referred to the Department of Justice on criminal charges for failing to appear for a deposition with the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

Meadows is the latest official to face the possibility of such a referral from the panel. The committee approved a criminal contempt report against Trump ally Steve Bannon in October after he refused to comply with a subpoena deadline.

Here are key things to know as we await a vote:

What the committee did Monday: The panel unanimously voted in favor of holding Meadows in contempt of Congress, and it is now up to the full House to vote on whether it will ask the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges against ex-President Donald Trump's former chief of staff.

What criminal contempt means: It is one of the three options the congressional panel can pursue to enforce its subpoenas, along with civil and inherent contempt. Once a criminal contempt referral clears the House select committee, it heads to the full House for a vote. If that vote succeeds, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi certifies the report to the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.

Under law, this certification then requires the United States attorney to "bring the matter before the grand jury for its action," but the Justice Department will also makes its own determinations for prosecuting.

Any individual who is found liable for contempt of Congress is then guilty of a crime that may result in a fine and between one and 12 months imprisonment. But this process is rarely invoked and rarely leads to jail time.

What both sides are saying: Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said on Tuesday that as "White House chief of staff, Mr. Meadows played a role in or was witness to key events leading up to and including the January 6th assault on the United States Capitol." Thompson noted that the select committee's report "referring Mr. Meadows for criminal contempt charges is clear and compelling."

Meadows' attorney issued a new statement Tuesday ahead of the full House vote saying that his client is still cooperating with the committee in some ways, but maintained he cannot be compelled to appear for questioning as he is not "licensed to waive Executive Privilege" claimed by Trump.

Meadows "has fully cooperated as to documents in his possession that are not privileged and has sought various means to provide other information while continuing to honor the former president's privilege claims," his attorney George J. Terwilliger III said in a statement.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chair of the select committee, said Tuesday that Meadows had received numerous text messages urging Trump to take action to stop the riot that he has produced without any privilege claim.