The Daily Fuckup

Mark Meadows’ refusal to fully cooperate with the House Jan. 6 select committee put him on a collision course with contempt proceedings. On Dec. 14, 2021, the House voted to hold the former White House chief of staff in criminal contempt of Congress after Meadows declined to appear for a deposition and said he would withhold material he claimed was covered by executive privilege.

The timeline matters. The select committee met on Dec. 13 and approved a report recommending that the full House cite Meadows for contempt. The committee’s report says Meadows’ lawyer told investigators on Dec. 3 that he would not show up for his scheduled deposition and would not provide all of the records the panel had subpoenaed. The House then took up the matter the next day and voted to approve the contempt resolution.

The committee also cited messages Meadows received as the Capitol attack was unfolding, including texts showing people in and around Donald Trump’s orbit pressing for action while the violence continued. That evidence did not resolve the privilege dispute, but it showed the investigation was not limited to a narrow set of peripheral communications. Meadows had turned over some material, but he did not provide the full set of testimony and records the panel said it needed.

At bottom, the fight was about whether Meadows could use executive privilege to avoid appearing at all. The committee said no: its position was that privilege could not be used as a blanket shield against congressional oversight, especially when it still sought nonprivileged testimony and documents. The House vote turned that dispute into a criminal contempt referral, leaving the legal battle over privilege to continue outside the chamber.