(Washington) Donald Trump’s former chief of staff on Friday refused to testify before the Congressional committee investigating the Jan.6 assault on Capitol Hill, paving the way for indictment.
Mark Meadows was summoned to appear before the House of Representatives special committee, which is trying to understand what role the former Republican president, his cabinet and his advisers played in the course of the attack and its preparations.
Mr. Meadows’ attorney, George Terwilliger, said in a statement that his client “strongly disagrees” with the special committee’s desire to release White House documents that could implicate Mr. Trump in the attack.
President Joe Biden has already given his approval for the publication of some 770 pages of documents which are kept at the National Archives, part of which was due to be sent to Congress on Friday.
They include the files of former close advisers to Donald Trump as well as the daily newspaper of the White House – an account of his activities, trips, briefings and phone calls.
But a US court on Thursday granted the request of the former president, who invokes the right of the executive to keep certain information secret, to temporarily suspend the publication of these documents until November 30.
Mark Meadows used this decision to justify his refusal to testify. “It would be irresponsible for Mr. Meadows to prematurely resolve this dispute by waiving rights which are at the heart of this matter,” said Mr.e Terwilliger.
The board of inquiry replied in a statement that Mr. Biden had already authorized the release of the documents and that Mr. Meadows was therefore required to testify. He warned that the former chief of staff could be charged with contempt of Congress, as was the case for Steve Bannon, the former adviser to Donald Trump who also refuses to testify.