Donald Trump surrenders on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election
Former President Donald Trump surrendered to Fulton County authorities Thursday on charges he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Fulton County authorities charged Trump and 18 others, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former state Republican Party Chair David Shafer, as part of the effort. The Fulton County indictment of Trump is the fourth against the former president and the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Trump addressed reporters on the tarmac before boarding his aircraft bound for New Jersey. “What has taken place here is a travesty of justice,” Trump said. “We did nothing wrong at all. They’re interfering with an election and there’s never been anything like it in our country before. “And we have every right, every single right to challenge an election that we think is dishonest. So we think it’s very dishonest.” Even before Trump formally surrendered to authorities at the Atlanta facility, the former president’s attorneys and prosecutors agreed to set a $200,000 bond. While Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she would like to see the case go to trial within six months, legal experts say that is a tall order. “The idea that this case would go to trial in six months is optimistic, and I think it’s optimistic, even if you put aside that Donald Trump is facing three other indictments,” Jonathan Entin, a professor emeritus of law and adjunct professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University, told The Center Square. Additionally, Shafer, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former assistant U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Clark want the case transferred to federal court. “The Georgia indictment reflects the Sergeant Joe Friday mantra of ‘just the facts, ma’am’ and could end up being easier to prove than the latest federal indictment against Trump by avoiding trying to directly blame him for the chaos of Jan. 6,” civil rights attorney V. James DeSimone, of Los Angeles-based V. James DeSimone Law, told The Center Square via email. “The task of prosecuting 19 defendants and proving acts occurring in other states may be a daunting one,” DeSimone added. “But by charging acts in other states, the indictment demonstrates how Trump and the alleged co-conspirators developed a plan to invalidate the popular vote in a sufficient number of states to alter the results of the election. “Despite its breadth and the naming of numerous co-conspirators, Georgia’s indictment is nevertheless focused on the interference with its state elections, the oath of those in office and the established protocol for the election of the electoral voters.” Additionally, Entin said it may be challenging to seat a jury in the case, but it won’t be impossible. “Just because we have one very prominent defendant, the legal system can’t work if we say, ‘well, if you’re a high enough profile person, then you can never be tried, no matter what you do,’” Entin said. “That’s just destructive of the whole idea that we have a rule of law. There’s plenty of room for reasonable minds to differ about whether Donald Trump or any of the other defendants committed any of the crimes with which they’re charged. But that’s separate from saying, ‘Well, you know, some people are too important or too prominent to be subject to the rule of law at all.’” “So, it may take a lot of work to assemble a jury that is capable of deciding the case on the basis of the evidence and put aside whatever views they bring to the table,” Entin added. Earlier Thursday, U.S. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Willis demanding all records of communication with the DOJ to determine whether it was “politically motivated.” “Turning first to the question of motivation, it is noteworthy that just four days before this indictment, you launched a new campaign fundraising website that highlighted your investigation into President Trump,” the letter said. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Rudy Giuliani turns himself in on Georgia 2020 election charges after bond is set at $150,000
Rudy Giuliani turned himself in at a jail in Atlanta on Wednesday on charges related to efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The former New York mayor, was indicted last week along with Trump and 17 others. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said they participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to subvert the will of the voters after the Republican president lost to Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020. Bond for Giuliani, who was released after booking like the other defendants, was set at $150,000, second only to Trump’s $200,000. Giuliani, 79, is accused of spearheading Trump’s efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia and other closely contested states to ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint electoral college electors favorable to Trump. Other high-profile defendants also surrendered Wednesday, including Jenna Ellis, an attorney who prosecutors say was involved in efforts to convince state lawmakers to unlawfully appoint presidential electors, and lawyer Sidney Powell, accused of making false statements about the election in Georgia and helping to organize a breach of voting equipment in rural Coffee County. Georgia was one of several key states Trump lost by slim margins, prompting the Republican and his allies to proclaim, without evidence, that the election was rigged in favor of his Democratic rival Biden. Giuliani is charged with making false statements and soliciting false testimony, conspiring to create phony paperwork and asking state lawmakers to violate their oath of office to appoint an alternate slate of pro-Trump electors. Outside the Fulton County Jail Wednesday afternoon, Giuliani laughed when asked if he regretted allying himself with Trump. “I am very, very honored to be involved in this case because this case is a fight for our way of life,” Giuliani told reporters. “This indictment is a travesty. It’s an attack on — not just me, not just President Trump, not just the people in this indictment, some of whom I don’t even know – this is an attack on the American people.” Trump, the early front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has said he plans to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday. He and his allies have characterized the investigation as politically motivated and have heavily criticized District Attorney Willis, a Democrat. Also Wednesday, Willis’ team urged a judge to reject requests from two of the people indicted — former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark — to avoid having to be booked in jail while they fight to move the case to federal court. Willis has set a deadline of noon on Friday for the people indicted last week in the election subversion case to turn themselves in. Her team has been negotiating bond amounts and conditions with the lawyers for the defendants before they surrender at the jail. Misty Hampton, who was the Coffee County elections director when a breach of election equipment happened there, had her bond set at $10,000. David Shafer, who’s a former Georgia Republican Party chair and served as one of 16 fake electors for Trump, and Cathy Latham, who’s accused in the Coffee County breach and was also a fake elector, turned themselves in Wednesday morning. Also surrendering Wednesday were lawyers Ray Smith and Kenneth Chesebro, who prosecutors said helped organize the fake electors meeting at the state Capitol in December 2020. Attorney John Eastman, who pushed a plan to keep Trump in power, and Scott Hall, a bail bondsman who was accused of participating in the breach of election equipment in Coffee County, turned themselves in Tuesday. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office has said it will release booking photos at 4 p.m. each day, but Shafer appeared to post his on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, just after 7 a.m. Wednesday with the message, “Good morning! #NewProfilePicture.” While Republicans in Georgia and elsewhere are calling for Willis to be punished for indicting Trump, a group of Black pastors and community activists gathered outside the state Capitol in Atlanta Wednesday to pray for and proclaim their support for the Democratic prosecutor. Bishop Reginald Jackson, who leads Georgia’s African Methodist Episcopal churches, said that Willis is under attack “as a result of her courage and determination.” Former White House chief of staff Meadows and former Justice Department official Clark are seeking to move their cases from Fulton County Superior Court to federal court. Both argue the actions that gave rise to the charges in the indictment were related to their work as federal officials and that the state charges against them should be dismissed. While those motions are pending, they argue, they should not have to turn themselves in for booking at the Fulton County Jail. In a filing Wednesday, Willis’ team argued that Meadows has failed to demonstrate any hardship that would authorize the judge to prevent his arrest. The filing notes that other defendants, including Trump, had agreed to voluntarily surrender by the deadline. In a second filing, Willis’ team argued that Clark’s effort to halt any Fulton County proceedings while his motion is pending amounts to an attempt “to avoid the inconvenience and unpleasantness of being arrested or subject to the mandatory state criminal process.” Republished with the permission of The Associate Press.
Tommy Tuberville says GA indictments of Donald Trump are “pure politics”
Late Monday night, a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, returned indictments against former President Donald Trump and 18 of his advisors, team members, and affiliates. On Tuesday, Alabama Today requested comment from U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama). Tuberville’s staff said that a comment would be forthcoming. Tuberville shared the statement with Alabama Today and on Twitter. Tuberville was the first Senator to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and has for years been a vocal supporter of the former president. Tuberville recently introduced Trump at an Alabama Republican Party event in Montgomery. “Another day, another activist indictment of Biden’s top political opponent,” Sen. Tuberville said. “The fact that the radical Fulton County DA ‘accidentally’ published the indictment before the grand jury finished voting proves what we already know — this is pure politics.” “Where I come from, you beat your opponents by winning fair and square,” Tuberville continued. “This witch hunt has gone on for long enough. Democrats are afraid of President Trump because they know he will expose their corruption. The American people deserve an equal justice system — not one that twists the law to fit their politics.” The former President was indicted on 13 charges ranging from making false statements and impersonating a public officer to conspiracy and racketeering – a charge generally reserved for organized crime. This is the fourth round of indictments that the former President has received. The Fulton County DA, Fani Willis, is a Democrat and a noted Joe Biden ally. She claimed that Trump and the other eighteen defendants were trying “to accomplish the illegal goal” of keeping Trump in office. The alleged conspirators are being prosecuted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which is usually reserved for organized crime figures like mafia or drug cartel members. Also indicted were former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump attorney John Eastman, Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro, Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, Trump’s Georgia legal team member Ray Smith, staffer Jeffrey Clark, attorney Robert Cheeley, Trump’s director of Election Day operations Michael Roman, staffer Stephen Lee, a leader of Black Voices for Trump Harrison Floyd, Kanye West’s former publicist Trevian Kutti, Trump “fake” elector and former Georgia Republican Party Finance Chair and State Senator Shawn Still, Trump “fake” elector Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, Sidney Powell – an attorney allied with Trump, “fake” elector retired teacher and the Chairwoman of the Coffee County Republican Party, Cathy Latham, and Coffee County election supervisor Misty Hampton (she also allegedly posted a viral video claiming Dominion Voting System machines could be manipulated), and bail bondsman Scott Hall. Trump maintains that he did nothing wrong and that Fulton County is simply using the legal process to cover up a flawed election. They maintain that criticizing the results of a disputed election and alleging election fraud is constitutionally protected free speech. Tuberville’s charge that the indictments against former President Trump are a witch hunt mirrors Republican congressmen’s claims that the Democrats’ two impeachment charges against Trump, as well as the Steele dossier allegations against then-candidate Trump in 2016, were a witch hunt. Despite the growing legal maelstrom around Trump, he remains the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary field for 2024. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Cassidy Hutchinson, Donald Trump White House aide, now in spotlight
Just two years out of college, Cassidy Hutchinson said she watched as a valet mopped up the president’s lunch after he had smashed his plate against a wall. Donald Trump was in a rage because his attorney general had refuted his claims that the election he lost had been stolen. Weeks later, as she watched Trump resist entreaties to try to stop the rioters, the young aide who once said she went into public service to “maintain American prosperity and excellence” described her own disgust at the president. “We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie,” Hutchinson said After months of testimony from a former attorney general and other powerful officials, including Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, it was a 25-year-old staffer who perhaps put Trump’s conduct into its sharpest relief. Speaking in an even, measured tone, Hutchinson made several shocking revelations about Trump and Mark Meadows in nationally televised testimony before a House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection. An obscure aide prior to Tuesday’s hearing, Hutchinson showed detailed knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump White House, including in the critical days that Trump and his advisers plotted to reverse President Joe Biden’s election victory. There was no widespread election fraud. Trump lost more than 60 court cases attempting to prove wrongdoing, and even his own attorney general, William Barr, said his claims were meritless. Barr’s statements made to The Associated Press prompted Trump smashing his lunch against the wall, Hutchinson testified. She showed her familiarity with key Trump figures, referring at times to Meadows, security official Tony Ornato, and national security adviser Robert O’Brien by their first names. Meadows, in turn, called her “Cass,” in her retelling of one story. Although the White House is perhaps the world’s most prestigious office building, much of the staff is young, sometimes even fresh out of college like Hutchinson. They often previously worked on the president’s campaign or the national party, and they’re distinguished by their ambition and willingness to work long hours for little pay. They’re also critical to any administration’s machinery. They help with the logistics of media coverage, prepare for public events and answer the phones. Because they’re often within earshot as the country’s most powerful people gossip and plan, discretion is expected. Young aides often go on to bigger government roles or prestigious positions in business or the media. Some run for office themselves. But Trump’s White House turned many aides into government witnesses. The Justice Department and Congress probed allegations of Russian influence on his first presidential campaign, his efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president to produce derogatory information about Biden and his son Hunter, and the insurrection. Meadows has refused to testify, as have some others close to Trump. Hutchinson described Meadows as detached and frequently scrolling his cellphone at key moments. Meadows didn’t immediately look up from his phone when Ornato, a Secret Service official detailed to the White House, warned him about weapons in the crowd outside the White House on the morning of January 6, where Trump’s supporters were waiting to hear from him. Many in the crowd had guns and other weapons, including spears attached to the end of flagpoles, Hutchinson recalled. She said she was close enough to Trump at one point to hear him demand that attendees not be screened so that they could fill the crowd, saying, “I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me.” And she alleged Trump became so irate at being driven back to the White House after his speech — when he exhorted rallygoers to “fight like hell” — rather than the Capitol that he tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limousine away from a Secret Service agent who was driving. “I’m the effing president,” Hutchinson said she was told Trump had said. Trump, writing on his personal social media network, dismissed Hutchinson as “a total phony and ‘leaker.’” “Never complained about the crowd; it was massive,” he said. “I didn’t want or request that we make room for people with guns to watch my speech. Who would ever want that? Not me!” The events in her testimony — explained in new and vivid detail for the first time publicly — are of potentially vital interest to both the committee and the Justice Department. Federal agents have seized the phones of Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman, two lawyers who pushed false claims of election fraud and the discredited theory that Biden’s electors could be replaced. Republicans in at least five states have also been served with subpoenas or warrants. There was relatively little known about Hutchinson prior to her public testimony. In a 2018 profile published by her undergraduate alma mater, Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, Hutchinson recalled being “brought to tears” when she received an email telling her she’d been accepted to a White House internship program. “As a first-generation college student, being selected to serve as an intern alongside some of the most intelligent and driven students from across the nation – many of whom attend top universities – was an honor and a tremendous growing experience,” she is quoted as saying. She says in the article that she attended numerous events hosted by Trump and often watched out her window as Marine One would depart the White House’s South Lawn. “My small contribution to the quest to maintain American prosperity and excellence is a memory I will hold as one of the honors of my life,” she said in the piece. One sign of Hutchinson’s possible willingness to cooperate with investigations is her choice of lawyers. She recently switched from a former Trump White House official to a veteran former Justice Department official who served as chief of staff to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and who emerged as a key witness for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. Jody Hunt, the new lawyer, recounted for Mueller’s team the extent to which
Oath Keepers leader talks to January 6 panel from federal jail
Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, appeared remotely before the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection on Wednesday from a federal jail where he is awaiting trial on sedition charges. The panel sought out Rhodes’ testimony even after he was arrested last month on charges that he plotted with others to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. He and ten others were the first to be charged with seditious conspiracy for their roles in the violent insurrection. Rhodes has entered a not guilty plea. Rhodes’ appearance was confirmed by two of his lawyers, Jonathan Moseley and James Lee Bright. A spokesman for the January 6 committee declined to comment on the interview. “He is both answering some questions and not answering others under the Fifth Amendment and preserving his due process rights to a fair trial,” Moseley said in an email as the interview was ongoing. Rhodes’ testimony came as the panel also interviewed Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who aligned with former President Donald Trump ahead of the violent attack. The committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans has interviewed nearly 500 people, casting a wide net as they try to create the most comprehensive account yet of the worst attack on the U.S. Capitol in two centuries. It is unusual for Congress to interview federal inmates awaiting trial and for defendants to speak about their case since they could incriminate themselves. The indictment against Rhodes alleges that the Oath Keepers for weeks discussed trying to overturn the election results and prepared for a siege by purchasing weapons and setting up battle plans. The indictment alleges Oath Keepers formed two teams, or “stacks,” that entered the Capitol. The first stack split up inside the building to separately go after the House and Senate. The second stack confronted officers inside the Capitol Rotunda, the indictment said. Outside Washington, the indictment alleges, the Oath Keepers had stationed two “quick reaction forces” that had guns “in support of their plot to stop the lawful transfer of power.” Rhodes’ lawyers sought to keep him jailed in Texas if he isn’t going to be freed on bond, but a federal judge refused on Wednesday to block his transfer to Washington, D.C., where dozens of other Capitol riot defendants remain detained pending trial. The House panel was also interviewing the former Justice Department official, Clark, on Wednesday. Clark appeared for the interview in person after months of delays that the committee said was due to illness. The panel voted to recommend contempt charges against Clark in December after he appeared for a November 5 deposition but refused to be interviewed, citing Trump’s legal efforts to block the committee’s investigation. A vote of the full House on contempt charges was postponed after Clark’s lawyer said he would appear a second time. Clark met with Trump ahead of the insurrection and unsuccessfully pushed his then-supervisors to publicly announce that the department was investigating election fraud and direct certain state legislatures to appoint new electors, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee report released earlier this year. The report said that Trump’s pressure on the Justice Department culminated in a dramatic White House meeting at which the president ruminated about elevating Clark to attorney general. Trump did not do so after several aides threatened to resign, but he continued to push the baseless claims of fraud that were repeated by the violent mob of his supporters as they broke into the Capitol and interrupted Biden’s certification. State election officials, courts across the country, and even Trump’s own attorney general rejected the former president’s claims of widespread fraud. Clark’s lawyer said in December that his client would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the second interview. The chairman of the January 6 panel, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said then that Clark had offered “no specific basis” for asserting the 5th Amendment and that he viewed it as a “last-ditch attempt to delay the Select Committee’s proceedings.” But he said members would hear Clark out. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
January 6 panel seeks interview with Donald Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan
The House panel investigating the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection on Wednesday requested an interview with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress, as the committee closes in on members of its own chamber. In a letter to Jordan, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, said the panel wants the lawmaker to provide information for its investigation surrounding his communications with Trump on January 6 and Trump’s efforts to challenge the result of the 2020 election. “We understand that you had at least one and possibly multiple communications with President Trump on January 6th,” the letter reads. “We would like to discuss each such communication with you in detail.” The request is the second by the nine-member panel this week and launches a new phase for the lawmakers on the committee, who have so far resisted going after one of their own as they investigate the insurrection by supporters and his efforts to overturn the election. Jordan is a staunch supporter of the former president’s false claims about voter fraud. The lawmaker brought those claims up during an October hearing on a motion to hold former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. In that hearing, Jordan admitted once again that he spoke with Trump on the day of the attack. “Of course, I talked to the president,” Jordan told members of the Rules Committee, in response to questioning from the panel’s chairman, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “I talked to him that day. I’ve been clear about that. I don’t recall the number of times, but it’s not about me. I know you want to make it about that.” A request for comment from Jordan’s office was not immediately returned. The panel is also seeking information regarding Jordan’s meeting with Trump and members of his administration in November and December 2020, and in early January 2021, “about strategies for overturning the results of the 2020 election.” The letter goes on to say the committee is also interested in any discussions Jordan may have had during that time regarding the possibility of presidential pardons for people involved in any aspect of the Capitol attack or the planning for the two rallies that took place that day. Thompson writes that Jordan has already publicly signaled a willingness to cooperate with the panel’s efforts to get answers about January 6, citing the lawmaker’s quote from that October hearing: “I’ve said all along, I have nothing to hide. I’ve been straightforward all along.” On Monday, the committee sent a similar request to Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who the panel believes had “an important role” in efforts to install then-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general in late 2020. Perry rejected the committee’s request Tuesday, calling the committee and its investigation “illegitimate.” In response, Tim Mulvey, a committee spokesperson, said that while the panel prefers to gather evidence from members “cooperatively,” it will pursue such information “using other tools” if necessary. The panel has already interviewed about 300 people as it seeks to create a comprehensive record of the Jan. 6 attack and the events leading up to it. Trump at the time was pushing false claims of widespread voter fraud and lobbying Vice President Mike Pence and Republican members of Congress to try to overturn the count at the January 6 congressional certification. Election officials across the country, along with the courts, had repeatedly dismissed Trump’s claims. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
January 6 panel threatens contempt vote after Mark Meadows withdraws
The leaders of the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection are threatening to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress after his lawyer said Tuesday that his client will cease cooperating with the panel. In an abrupt reversal, Meadows attorney George Terwilliger said in a letter that a deposition would be “untenable” because the January 6 panel “has no intention of respecting boundaries” concerning questions that former President Donald Trump has claimed are off-limits because of executive privilege. Terwilliger also said he learned over the weekend that the committee had issued a subpoena to a third-party communications provider that he said would include “intensely personal” information. “As a result of careful and deliberate consideration of these factors, we now must decline the opportunity to appear voluntarily for a deposition,” Terwilliger wrote in the letter. The committee’s Democratic chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, and Republican vice chairwoman, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, said in a statement that they will have “no choice” but to vote on recommending contempt charges against Meadows if he does not show up for a previously scheduled closed-door deposition Wednesday. “Tomorrow’s deposition, which was scheduled at Mr. Meadows’s request, will go forward as planned,” Thompson and Cheney said in a statement. Meadows’ decision not to cooperate is a blow to the committee, as lawmakers were hoping to interview Trump’s top White House aide about Trump’s actions during and ahead of the violent attack of his supporters. They had also hoped to use Meadows as an example to other witnesses who may be considering not cooperating as Trump has filed legal challenges to block the panel’s work. Lawmakers on the committee have blasted Meadows’ reluctance to testify, citing privilege concerns, while he is also releasing a book this week that details his work inside the White House. Thompson and Cheney said they also have questions about documents Meadows has already turned over to the panel. “Even as we litigate privilege issues, the Select Committee has numerous questions for Mr. Meadows about records he has turned over to the Committee with no claim of privilege, which includes real-time communications with many individuals as the events of January 6th unfolded,” they said in the statement. Thompson and Cheney said the panel also wants to speak to Meadows about “voluminous official records stored in his personal phone and email accounts” that could be turned over to the committee by the National Archives in the coming weeks. Trump has sued to stop the release of those records, and the case is currently pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals. The two committee leaders did not comment on Terwilliger’s claim about subpoenas to third-party communications providers. The committee in August issued a sweeping demand that telecommunications and social media companies preserve the personal communications of hundreds of people who may have been connected to the attack but did not ask the companies to turn over the records at that time. Terwilliger said in a statement last week that he was continuing to work with the committee and its staff on a potential accommodation that would not require Meadows to waive the executive privileges claimed by Trump or “forfeit the long-standing position that senior White House aides cannot be compelled to testify” before Congress. “We appreciate the Select Committee’s openness to receiving voluntary responses on non-privileged topics,” he said then. Thompson said then that the panel would “continue to assess his degree of compliance” and would take action against Meadows or any other witnesses who don’t comply, including by voting to recommend contempt charges. The House has already voted to hold longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt after he defied a subpoena, and the Justice Department indicted Bannon on two counts. In halting cooperation, Terwilliger cited comments from Thompson that he said unfairly cast aspersions on witnesses who invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. A separate witness, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, has said he will invoke those Fifth Amendment rights, prompting questions from the committee about whether he would directly acknowledge that his answers could incriminate him. Thompson said last week that Clark’s lawyer had offered “no specific basis” for Clark to assert the Fifth and that he viewed it as a “last-ditch attempt to delay the Select Committee’s proceedings,” but he said members would hear Clark out. The committee has already voted to recommend contempt charges for Clark, and Thompson has said it will proceed with a House vote if the panel is not satisfied with his compliance at a second deposition on December 16. In his new book, released Tuesday, Meadows reveals that Trump received a positive COVID-19 test before a presidential debate. He also reveals that when Trump was later hospitalized with COVID, he was far sicker than the White House revealed at the time. Trump — who told his supporters to “fight like hell” before hundreds of his supporters broke into the Capitol and stopped the presidential electoral count — has attempted to hinder much of the committee’s work, including in the ongoing court case, by arguing that Congress cannot obtain information about his private White House conversations. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
