Judge Forces Mark Meadows To Obey Jan. 6 Subpoena

0
826

A federal judge gave former Chief of Staff to Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, the bad news on Thursday that he cannot “pause a ruling” to appear before the House January 6 Select Committee and provides documents. The former representative has been trying to get out of honoring the Select Committee’s subpoena.

Late last month U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols decided that Meadows “did not have subject matter jurisdiction to weigh into the dispute between Meadows and the Committee,” according to The Daily Beast.

That was when the former chief of staff asked Nichols to reconsider his earlier ruling. The judge wrote in his decision that Meadows “never sought preliminary injunctive relief,” The Law & Crime reported:

‘Because the Congressional Defendants (for whatever reason) did not pursue affirmative claims against Meadows, the Court’s dismissal of Meadows’s claims does not obligate him to take any action. And because Meadows never sought (and thus the Court never granted) preliminary injunctive relief against the Congressional Defendants, the dismissal of his claims does not allow those Defendants to take any action that they were prevented from taking by Court order.’

The January 6 Committee subpoenaed Meadows for documents, Verizon phone records, and in-person testimony:

‘As for Verizon, it has never been a party to this litigation, and thus the Court has never ordered Verizon to take or refrain from taking any action.’

Back in late September, the Select Committee issued its subpoena to him:

‘[The panel found] credible evidence of your involvement in events within the scope of the Select Committee’s inquiry.’

That was when the January 6 Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wrote that Meadows’ proximity to Donald Trump meant the chief of staff’s testimony and records were especially important:

“It appears that you were with or in the vicinity of President Trump on January 6, had communications with the President and others on January 6 regarding events at the Capitol, and are a witness regarding activities of that day. Moreover, it has been reported that you were engaged in multiple elements of the planning and preparation of efforts to contest the presidential election and delay the counting of electoral votes.’

Thompson continued noting that Meadows “communicated with the highest level officials:”

‘In addition, according to documents provided by the Department of Justice, while you were the President’s Chief of Staff, you directly communicated with the highest officials at the Department of Justice requesting investigations into election fraud matters in several states.’

The Select Committee said that Meadows furthered the “allegations of election fraud:”

‘We understand that in the weeks after the November 2020 election, you contacted several state officials to encourage investigation of allegations of election fraud, even after such allegations had been dismissed by state and federal courts, and after the Electoral College had met and voted on December 14, 2020.’

Screen-Shot-2022-11-17-at-4.35.25-PM Judge Forces Mark Meadows To Obey Jan. 6 Subpoena Corruption Crime Featured Politics Top Stories

The Committee went on making reference to a Tea Party organizer:

‘Moreover, at least one press report indicates you were in communication with organizers of the January 6 rally, including Amy Kremer of Women for America First.’

Screen-Shot-2022-11-17-at-4.36.55-PM Judge Forces Mark Meadows To Obey Jan. 6 Subpoena Corruption Crime Featured Politics Top Stories

The House Republicans’ new narrow sliver of majority still means that the end of the Select Committee is near.

Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.


Christie writes Gloria Christie Reports & Three White Lions Substack newsletters and a Three White Lions podcast available on Apple, Spotify, etc. She is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions her book on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, etc.