Trump's former White House chief sues Capitol assault committee over subpoena

[WASHINGTON] Donald Trump's former chief of staff filed suit on Wednesday against the congressional committee pursuing him for criminal contempt over his refusal to testify in their probe of the deadly US Capitol assault.

Mark Meadows specifically named Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives who launched the investigation alongside all nine members of the panel preparing a report on the January 6 insurrection by thousands of Trump's supporters.

The lawsuit, filed a day after the panel told Meadows it was taking action over his defiance of a subpoena to appear for a deposition on Wednesday, challenges the legality of the "unduly burdensome" summons and asks the Washington district court to strike it down.

Meadows, who initially failed to appear before the congressional panel last month, is seen as a key witness to Trump's role in efforts to overturn the election by subverting the democratic process.

He initially snubbed a subpoena to testify before the committee but later reached an agreement on appearing in person - before reversing course again.

Reacting to his latest about-face, the panel wrote to Meadows late Tuesday saying it had have "no choice" but to advance criminal contempt proceedings against him.

The letter, released by the committee on Wednesday, added to the public record information from a trove of thousands of items of correspondence and other documents Meadows had already voluntarily turned over.

They included a November 6, 2020, text exchange with a member of Congress in which Meadows reportedly said "I love it" in a discussion about a plan to disenfranchise millions of voters in a bid to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election win.

THREAT OF JAIL

Democratic Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney were unperturbed by Meadow's lawsuit, saying the committee will meet next week to advance a report recommending that the House cite Meadows for contempt of Congress and refer him to the Justice Department for prosecution.

If convicted, Meadows would face up to 12 months in prison, but more likely a fine.

"Mr. Meadows's flawed lawsuit won't succeed at slowing down the Select Committee's investigation or stopping us from getting the information we're seeking," Thompson and Cheney said in a joint statement.

Steve Bannon, another senior aide in the Trump administration and a long-time ally of the defeated former president, is due to be tried for contempt in July after defying his own subpoena.

Thousands of Trump's supporters, many associated with ultra-nationalist and white supremacist groups, stormed the Capitol eight months ago in an effort to overturn Biden's election victory.

They had been egged on by Trump, whose fiery speech earlier that day falsely claiming election fraud was the culmination of months of baseless statements about a contest he lost fairly to Biden.

A comfortable majority of 57 senators - including seven from his own party - voted to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for inciting the riot, although this fell short of the two-thirds majority required under Senate rules to unseat a president.

AFP