By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mark Meadows, who served as former President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, has decided to no longer cooperate with the House of Representatives select committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Fox News first reported Meadows’ decision. The Democratic-led committee last week said Meadows had provided records and agreed to appear “soon” for a deposition after failing to show up for a previously scheduled one.
Meadows served as a Republican House member until he joined Trump’s administration last year. His refusal to honor a subpoena from the committee could lead it to pursue contempt of Congress charges against Meadows, as it has against Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
A committee spokesperson declined to comment.
Meadows had been expected to appear before the committee behind closed doors this week.
Attorney George Terwilliger, who represents Meadows, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fox reported that Terwilliger would officially notify the committee on Tuesday that Meadows would no longer cooperate.
In last week’s announcement, the committee’s chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson, did not rule out further action against Meadows if he failed to cooperate.
On Jan. 6, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent formal congressional certification of his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Before the riot, Trump gave a speech to his supporters repeating his false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud and urging them to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” to “stop the steal.”
Trump has urged associates not to cooperate with the committee, calling the investigation politically motivated and arguing that his communications are protected by executive privilege, although many legal experts have said that legal principle does not apply to former presidents.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Will Dunham)
