Meadows sues as Jan. 6 panel proceeds with contempt case

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WASHINGTON – Former Trump White House main of unit Mark Meadows connected Wednesday sued the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection arsenic the president of the sheet pledged to determination guardant with contempt charges against him for defying a subpoena.

The dueling actions laid bare simmering tensions betwixt the committee and Meadows, seen by Democratic lawmakers arsenic a pivotal subordinate successful their investigation, and reflected a singular turnabout from past week, erstwhile Meadows had declared his volition of cooperating with the committee connected definite areas of their inquiry.

Meadows' lawsuit, filed successful national tribunal successful Washington, asks a justice to invalidate 2 subpoenas that helium says are “overly wide and unduly burdensome." It accuses the committee of overreaching by issuing a subpoena to Verizon for his compartment telephone records.

“Allowing an wholly partisan prime committee of Congress to subpoena the idiosyncratic compartment telephone information of enforcement officials would enactment a monolithic chilling of existent and aboriginal Executive Branch officials’ associational and escaped code rights,” the suit states.

The ailment was filed hours aft Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee chairman, declared helium had “no choice” but to proceed with contempt charges against Meadows. Meadows did not amusement up Wednesday for a scheduled deposition aft his lawyer, George Terwilliger, told the committee his lawsuit was ending his cooperation.

Thompson noted that Meadows has already provided documents to the committee, including idiosyncratic emails and texts astir President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 predetermination defeat, and has besides published a book, released this week, that discusses the Jan. 6 attack.

“That helium would merchantability his telling of the facts of that time portion denying a legislature committee the accidental to inquire him astir the onslaught connected our Capitol marks an historical and assertive defiance of Congress,” Thompson said successful a missive to Terwilliger.

The determination to clasp Meadows successful contempt comes arsenic the committee has struggled to summation compliance from a fewer of the erstwhile president's closest and astir high-profile allies. Still, the committee has already conducted more than 250 interviews with witnesses astir the riot.

Shortly aft the suit was filed, Thompson said helium hadn't work it yet, but helium questions its merit due to the fact that the committee was legitimately formed by the House.

He said the probe doesn't “rise oregon fall” connected Meadows oregon immoderate different witness.

“We determination forward,” helium said, noting that the sheet has respective scheduled depositions this week.

Committee leaders person said they mean to punish anyone who volition not comply with the probe, and the House has already voted to clasp longtime Trump state Steve Bannon successful contempt aft helium defied their subpoena. The Justice Department aboriginal indicted Bannon connected 2 counts.

A committee ballot to urge the contempt charges against Meadows could travel arsenic soon arsenic adjacent week, Thompson said.

In his missive to Terwilliger, Thompson summarized a fistful of the thousands of documents that Meadows has already provided, including communications that impact White House efforts to overturn Joe Biden's predetermination victory. Meadows provided the committee past period with idiosyncratic emails and backed-up information from his idiosyncratic cellphone, including substance messages, Thompson said.

He said the documents Meadows turned implicit included an email dated Nov. 7, 2020 — the time Biden was declared the White House victor — that Thompson described arsenic “discussing the assignment of alternate slates of electors arsenic portion of a ‘direct and collateral attack’ aft the election." Thompson did not accidental who sent the email oregon springiness further details.

Thompson besides described an email that referenced a 38-page PowerPoint presumption titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN" that Thompson said was intended to beryllium shared connected Capitol Hill. Thompson did not further elaborate connected the email but said it was dated Jan. 5, 2021, the time earlier hundreds of Trump’s supporters violently breached the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Biden's victory.

A abstracted Nov. 6, 2020, substance speech betwixt Meadows and an unidentified subordinate of Congress, Thompson wrote, was “apparently astir appointing alternate electors successful definite states arsenic portion of a program that the subordinate acknowledged would beryllium ‘highly controversial,' and to which Mr. Meadows seemingly said, ‘I emotion it.’"

Also included successful the documents, according to Thompson: a Jan. 5, 2021, email astir having the National Guard connected standby the adjacent day; an “early 2021 substance connection exchange” betwixt Meadows and an organizer of the rally held the greeting of Jan. 6, erstwhile Trump told his supporters to “fight similar hell"; and “text messages astir the request for the erstwhile president to contented a nationalist connection that could person stopped the Jan. 6 onslaught connected the Capitol."

Terwilliger did not instantly respond to a petition for remark connected the missive oregon corroborate the contents of the documents.

Meadows' determination to halt complying with the committee was a reversal aft helium had initially agreed to the deposition and aft Terwilliger said the committee was unfastened to allowing him to diminution immoderate questions based connected Trump's enforcement privilege claims.

Terwilliger told the committee successful a missive this week that a deposition had go “untenable” due to the fact that the committee “has nary volition of respecting boundaries” astir questions that Trump claims are off-limits.

Trump has attempted to hinder overmuch of the committee’s work, including successful an ongoing tribunal case, by arguing that Congress cannot get accusation astir his backstage White House conversations.

Terwilliger besides said helium learned implicit the play that the committee had issued a subpoena to a third-party communications supplier that helium said would see “intensely personal” accusation astir Meadows.

“As a effect of cautious and deliberate information of these factors, we present indispensable diminution the accidental to look voluntarily for a deposition,” Terwilliger wrote successful the letter.

In his response, Thompson confirmed the subpoenas to a 3rd enactment but said it “does not interaction Mr. Meadows’s accumulation of documents and substance messages, which are the areas we question to make during his deposition.”

The committee successful August issued a sweeping request that telecommunications and societal media companies sphere the idiosyncratic communications of hundreds of radical who whitethorn person been connected to the attack. But the sheet did not inquire the companies to crook implicit the records astatine that time.

As the probe has progressed, the committee has “sought information that volition assistance reply important questions” but does not see the contented of the communications, according to a committee adjutant who was not authorized to publically sermon the probe and spoke connected information of anonymity. The metadata requested includes dates and times of the communications, which could see some emails and texts.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

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