Rep Andy Biggs
By Ronald J. Hansen | Arizona Republic
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives recommended a contempt of Congress charge against Mark Meadows, former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, for stonewalling the committee probing the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Hours of charged debate in the chamber preceded a party-line vote that drew support from only two Republicans over the insurrection as the anniversary of the historic attack approaches. The measure passed 222-208.
All five of Arizona’s five House Democrats supported the referral; all four of its Republicans opposed it.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Meadows’ former colleague in the House Freedom Caucus, denounced the action as outside the legal bounds of a congressional investigation.
The vote means Democrats recommend the U.S. Justice Department consider filing a criminal charge against Meadows for ignoring a subpoena.
Meadows has refused to sit for a deposition with investigators, citing executive privilege for Trump. Democrats argued throughout the day that Meadows wrote a book about the matter and provided reams of documents before reversing course.
Meadows ended his cooperation with House investigators after providing them with about 9,000 pages of documents. Even so, he has refused to sit for a deposition about matters still viewed by the committee as central to understanding what happened around the riot.
“Every thing every Democrat has said today is meant to attack one person, and that’s Donald Trump,” Biggs said. He noted that courts have held Congress can investigate to craft laws, but not to search for criminal prosecutions.
