During an appearance on MSNBC, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) put former Trump administration official Mark Meadows on blast amid efforts to procure his testimony by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, on which Schiff serves. As the California Congressman put it, Meadows has undercut his own claims against the committee, besides putting forward all-too-tenuous arguments to begin with, and Schiff appeared confident that the riot investigation panel could prevail in legal struggles with the ex-official.
Today, the @January6thCmte learned that Mark Meadows will not further cooperate.
Why he can discuss Jan 6 in a book, but not with Congress, is inexplicable. His deposition will proceed as planned.
If he fails to appear, he will be subject to criminal contempt.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 7, 2021
Asked about Meadows’s attempts to evade the committee’s investigation — including with a lawsuit that he filed against members of the panel — Schiff commented as follows:
‘It’s a frivolous effort to try to delay matters or to appease the former president. As a former member of Congress himself, he knows he can’t bring lawsuits against members of Congress under the Speech and Debate clause [of the Constitution] and that his lawsuit will be dismissed as unmeritorious. But I guess this is part of his decision to try to go back to being in the good graces of Donald Trump, who is apparently upset about his book, or upset that he’s cooperating, or who knows what will account for this about face.’
By passing the #ProtectingOurDemocracy Act, the House has delivered an unequivocal message:
Our democracy is worth fighting for.
Now, the Senate must show the same conviction to root out corruption and end presidential abuses of power.
The price of inaction is calamity.— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 9, 2021
Schiff added that there’s “no way to sustain the argument that [he] can’t come in to testify because that would be privileged, but here are all these documents on this very subject, which [he] admit[s] are not privileged.” Meadows has turned over a significant quantity of documents to Congress, including items from his personal email account and personal cellphone — and as members of the riot investigation committee have also publicly mulled over, Meadows has also opted to publish a book including information relevant to the committee’s inquiry. And yet, he still refuses to appear for a deposition because of claims of supposed privileges covering what he would be talking about.
Protecting our democracy must be a whole of government effort.
Because the task before us is much bigger than any one branch, person, or party.
It’s going to take all of us to get the job done.
I’m grateful to the @WhiteHouse for supporting the #ProtectingOurDemocracy Act.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 9, 2021
Meadows appeared fine with making certain revelations in other contexts — including one (publishing his book) that could make him money. As the riot investigation committee put it in a caption for a video of Schiff’s remarks, Meadows “has turned over approximately 9,000 pages of records with no claim of privilege. His production of these documents but failure to appear for the deposition is unacceptable. He can’t have it both ways.” Check out Schiff’s comments below:
Mark Meadows has turned over approximately 9,000 pages of records with no claim of privilege. His production of these documents but failure to appear for the deposition is unacceptable. He can't have it both ways. @RepAdamSchiff pic.twitter.com/17xC8erPLH
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 11, 2021
