Meadows Sues Pelosi in Bid to Block Jan. 6 Committee Subpoena

WASHINGTON — Mark Meadows, the erstwhile main of unit for President Donald J. Trump, filed suit connected Wednesday against Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 onslaught connected the Capitol successful an effort to transportation a national justice to artifact the committee’s subpoenas.

Mr. Meadows’s suit came hours aft the committee said it would determination guardant with a transgression contempt of Congress referral against Mr. Meadows aft helium refused to look for a scheduled deposition.

His lawsuit, filed successful national tribunal successful Washington, accuses the committee of issuing “two overly wide and unduly burdensome subpoenas” against him, including 1 sent to Verizon for his telephone and substance data.

“Mr. Meadows faces the harm of some being illegally coerced into violating the Constitution,” his suit contends. It asks a justice to state the subpoenas “unlawful and unenforceable,” and claims the inquiries interruption his law rights to escaped code and privacy.

The committee did not instantly denote a day for its ballot connected the contempt referral against Mr. Meadows, which is each but definite to beryllium approved and sent to the afloat House, wherever lawmakers are apt to walk it, formally recommending that the Justice Department prosecute Mr. Meadows. It would beryllium the 3rd clip the committee has moved to clasp a recalcitrant witnesser successful transgression contempt.

“The prime committee is near with nary prime but to beforehand contempt proceedings and urge that the assemblage successful which Mr. Meadows erstwhile served notation him for transgression prosecution,” Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the president of the committee, wrote to Mr. Meadows’s lawyer, George J. Terwilliger III.

In a connection Wednesday night, Mr. Thompson and Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and the committee’s vice chair, said that Mr. Meadows’ “flawed suit won’t win astatine slowing down the prime committee’s probe oregon stopping america from getting the accusation we’re seeking.”

The committee has present interviewed much than 275 witnesses and obtained tens of thousands of documents. Those cooperating see immoderate members of erstwhile Vice President Mike Pence’s interior circle, including Marc Short, his erstwhile main of staff. But respective high-profile witnesses are stonewalling the panel, successful enactment with a directive from Mr. Trump.

Mr. Meadows joins Mr. Trump is suing the committee to effort to artifact its investigation. The erstwhile president is battling successful tribunal to forestall the merchandise of documents requested by the committee that helium says are taxable to enforcement privilege, though the Biden medication has refused to asseverate that claim.

Mr. Meadows, who has turned implicit thousands of pages of documents to the committee, informed the sheet connected Tuesday that helium was nary longer consenting to beryllium for a deposition that had been scheduled for Wednesday, reversing a deal helium had reached with the sheet conscionable past week to beryllium interviewed by its investigators. The leaders of the committee instantly threatened to complaint Mr. Meadows, a erstwhile congressman from North Carolina, with contempt of Congress if helium did not appear.

Mr. Thompson said Mr. Meadows had provided immoderate utile accusation to the committee, including a November email that discussed appointing an alternate slate of electors to support Mr. Trump successful powerfulness and a Jan. 5 connection astir putting the National Guard connected standby.

Mr. Meadows besides turned implicit to the committee his substance messages with a subordinate of Congress successful which the lawmaker acknowledged that a program to entity to Mr. Biden’s triumph would beryllium “highly controversial,” to which Mr. Meadows responded, “I emotion it.” And helium furnished substance exchanges astir the request for Mr. Trump to contented a nationalist connection connected Jan. 6 aimed astatine persuading the mob marauding done the Capitol successful his sanction to basal down.

But Mr. Meadows besides informed the committee helium had turned successful the cellphone helium utilized connected Jan. 6 to his work provider, and helium was withholding immoderate 1,000 substance messages connected with the device, Mr. Thompson said, prompting further questions and the request for much practice and a deposition.

“There is nary morganatic ineligible ground for Mr. Meadows to garbage to cooperate with the prime committee and reply questions astir the documents helium produced, the idiosyncratic devices and accounts helium used, the events helium wrote astir successful his recently released publication and, among different things, his different nationalist statements,” Mr. Thompson wrote.

Understand the Claim of Executive Privilege successful the Jan. 6. Inquiry

The committee precocious sent a flurry of subpoenas to telecommunications companies seeking the information of dozens of individuals, including Mr. Meadows, prompting his lawyer to entity to a petition helium said sought “intensely idiosyncratic communications” with nary relevance to immoderate morganatic investigation.

“The Verizon subpoena seeks Mr. Meadows’ cellphone metadata, contempt the information that helium has already provided the prime committee with his responsive substance messages, emails, and the metadata,” his suit states.

The subpoenas, which travel records preservation demands sent to 35 exertion and societal media companies successful August, bash not question the contented of immoderate communications but simply the dates and times of erstwhile the calls and messages took place, according to a committee aide.

The House voted successful October to urge that different of Mr. Trump’s associates, Stephen K. Bannon, be charged with transgression contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. A national expansive assemblage subsequently indicted him connected 2 counts that could transportation a full of up to 2 years down bars. A justice connected Tuesday acceptable a July 18 proceedings day for Mr. Bannon, meaning that the prime committee volition astir apt person to hold the amended portion of a year, if not longer, for a solution of his lawsuit and immoderate imaginable practice from him.

The committee has besides recommended a contempt complaint against Jeffrey Clark, a erstwhile Justice Department lawyer who participated successful Mr. Trump’s efforts to invalidate the 2020 predetermination results, for refusing to cooperate with its inquiry. The sheet is waiting to implicit that referral until it tin find however overmuch accusation Mr. Clark is consenting to supply during a deposition scheduled for Dec. 16. Mr. Clark has said helium volition invoke his Fifth Amendment close against self-incrimination.

Another imaginable witness, John Eastman, a lawyer who wrote a memo that immoderate successful some parties person likened to a blueprint for a coup to support Mr. Trump successful power, has besides indicated that helium plans to invoke the Fifth Amendment successful effect to the committee’s subpoena.

A 3rd witness, the governmental operative Roger J. Stone Jr., told the committee this week that he, too, planned to invoke his close against self-incrimination successful defying a subpoena, declining to beryllium for an interrogation oregon nutrient documents.

“Given that the prime committee’s request for documents is overbroad, overreaching and acold excessively wide-ranging to beryllium deemed thing different than a sportfishing expedition, Mr. Stone has a law close to diminution to respond,” his lawyer, Grant J. Smith, wrote to the panel.