Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, has agreed to cooperate with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. According to Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, Meadows has been “engaging” with investigative efforts through his attorney and “will soon appear for an initial deposition.”
“Mr. Meadows has been engaging with the Select Committee through his attorney. He has produced records to the committee and will soon appear for an initial deposition,” Thompson said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov. 30). “The Select Committee expects all witnesses, including Mr. Meadows, to provide all information requested and that the Select Committee is lawfully entitled to receive. The committee will continue to assess his degree of compliance with our subpoena after the deposition.”
Meadows’ cooperation marks a reversal for the former chief of staff, who refused to comply with the committee when they issued him a subpoena back in September. At the time, the committee sought documents and testimony from Meadows relating to his and Trump’s conversations leading up to the Jan. 6 attack.
Meadows refused to turn over the documents, citing Trump’s claims of executive privilege, which ultimately fell flat.
In a statement on Tuesday, Meadows’ attorney George Terwilliger said they would “continue to work with the Select Committee,” but suggested reaching an agreement where Meadows won’t have to testify.
“As we have from the beginning, we continue to work with the Select Committee and its staff to see if we can reach an accommodation that does not require Mr. Meadows to waive executive privilege or to forfeit the long-standing position that senior White House aides cannot be compelled to testify before Congress,” he said. “We appreciate the Select Committee’s openness to receiving voluntary responses on non-privileged topics.”
As reported by REVOLT, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon surrendered to federal authorities earlier this month after defying his own subpoena from the House select committee. He was charged by the Justice Department with two counts of criminal contempt and has pleaded not guilty.