Source: Nworeport

The House Committee investigating the January 6th insurgence at the Capitol instructed former Trump Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, to appear for his deposition at 10 a.m. on Friday. If he fails to comply, he will be considered in contempt of Congress.

Panel chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, wrote to Meadows’ attorney on Thursday night to argue there is ‘no valid legal basis’ for Meadow’s noncompliance with the panel’s subpoena.

‘Simply put, there is no valid legal basis for Mr. Meadows’s continued resistance to the Select Committee’s subpoena. As such, the Select Committee expects Mr. Meadows to produce all responsive documents and appear for deposition testimony tomorrow, November 12, 2021, at 10:00 a.m,’ Thompson wrote to Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger.

His threat came shortly after the White House counsel’s office told Meadows he had no claims of privilege to avoid appearing in front of the committee.

Thompson warned Meadows could face criminal charges.

‘The Select Committee will view Mr. Meadows’s failure to appear at the deposition, and to produce responsive documents … as willful non-compliance. Such willful noncompliance with the subpoena would force the Select Committee to consider invoking the contempt of Congress procedures,’ Thompson remarked, ‘which could result in a referral from the House of Representatives to the Department of Justice for

criminal charges.’

The White House on

Thursday notified Meadows’ lawyer that President Biden would waive any executive privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee’s investigation.

White House Deputy Counsel, Jonathan Su, wrote to George Terwilliger to inform him of the finding.

‘The President believes that the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield information reflecting an effort to subvert the Constitution itself, and indeed believes that such an assertion in this circumstance would be at odds with the principles that underlie the privilege,’ wrote Su.

The President ‘has determined that he will not assert executive privilege with respect to your client’s deposition testimony on these subjects, or

any documents your client may possess that bear on them,’ Su noted. ‘For the same reasons, underlying his decisions on executive privilege, President Biden has determined that he will not assert immunity to preclude your client from testifying before the Select Committee.’

In his letter to Terwilliger, Thompson noted that writing the ruling from Biden’s White House counsel on the matter ‘eviscerates any plausible claim of testimonial immunity or executive privilege and compels compliance with the Select Committee’s subpoena.’

Terwilliger suggested in a statement that Meadows would not comply with the committee’s demands until the legal disputes were resolved.

‘Contrary to decades of consistent bipartisan opinions from the Justice Department that senior aides cannot be compelled by Congress to give testimony, this is the first president to make no effort whatsoever to protect presidential communications from being the subject of compelled testimony,’ he wrote.

‘Mr. Meadows remains under the instruction of former President Trump to respect long standing principles of executive

privilege. It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict,’ he remarked.

Trump has ordered his former aides not to cooperate with the House committee’s probe.