January 6 committee considers holding Mark Meadows in criminal contempt for not complying with subpoena

• The January 6 committee is considering holding Mark Meadows in criminal contempt.
• Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, failed to meet the Friday deadline to turn over documents and show up for a deposition.

The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection is weighing criminal contempt proceedings against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for refusing to comply with its congressional subpoena, Chairman Bennie Thompson and ranking member Liz Cheney announced on Friday.

The move comes after Meadows failed to meet the Friday deadline to appear for a deposition and hand over documents related to the probe.

"Mr. Meadows's actions today-choosing to defy the law-will force the Select Committee to consider pursuing contempt or other proceedings to enforce the subpoena," Thompson and Cheney said in a statement.

"If his defiance persists and that process moves ahead, the record will reveal the wide range of matters the Select Committee wished to discuss with Mr. Meadows until his decision to hide behind the former President's spurious claims of privilege. Many of those matters are not even conceivably subject to any privilege claim, even if there were one," the lawmakers said.

Meadows has followed instructions from Trump not to comply with the subpoena because of the former president's claims of executive privilege. Lawmakers on the January 6 committee said there's no legal basis to Meadows' resistance.

Meadows' lawyer, George Terwilliger, said Thursday that the former chief of staff will not comply until the courts resolve the issue by ruling on Trump's claims.

Before the Friday deadline, Thompson warned Terwilliger in a letter on Thursday that if Meadows refuses to comply, he could face criminal contempt charges. Meadows was also notified that President Joe Biden will not assert executive privilege over documents and other information requested by the January 6 panel.

Meadows was Trump's chief of staff from March 2020 until the end of his presidency. He took the job after serving seven years in the House as a Republican representing North Carolina.

The committee has already held another Trump aide, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, in contempt after he refused to comply with a subpoena. Bannon also said he was prevented from complying by Trump's executive privilege. The Democratic-led House, joined by nine Republicans, voted last month to refer the charges to the Justice Department. The DOJ announced on Friday that a federal grand jury indicted Bannon on two felony counts of contempt of Congress.

"It's unfortunate that Mr. Meadows has chosen to join a very small group of witnesses who believe they are above the law and are defying a Select Committee subpoena outright," Thompson and Cheney said Friday.