Meadows’s decision to cooperate comes on the same day an appeals court hears arguments over Trump’s privilege claims.
Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff for the Trump administration, has agreed to provide documents and closed-door testimony to the select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol building. Meadows was subpoenaed in September to provide documents and to testify to the commission. At the onset of that subpoena order, it appeared that Meadows would be cooperative. But by the end of October, Meadows was refusing to testify and to provide the materials that the commission had asked for, justifying his defiance on the basis that Trump’s purported executive privilege limited him from discussing the final weeks of the former president’s tenure in office. As a result of his reluctance to cooperate, Meadows faced the possibility of being charged with contempt of Congress, much like Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon. This past weekend, January 6 commission member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) said that the panel would soon decide whether they would vote on issuing such charges to Meadows as well. It’s unclear whether it was the threat of contempt charges that motivated Meadows to become more cooperative. But regardless of why he’s changed his mind, Meadows now appears to be sharing documents with the commission and has agreed to testify.
