Capitol riot committee votes to recommend criminal contempt charges against Mark Meadows

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots on Monday voted unanimously to recommend criminal contempt charges against former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Although Meadows initially said he would cooperate with the committee, he has since backed off this pledge and has refused to attend previously scheduled testimony.

Or as Rep. Bennie Thompson (R-MS) said ahead of the vote, "He changed his mind and told us to pound sand -- he didn't even show up!"

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Meadows has nonetheless provided some significant documents to the committee, including contemporaneous text messages that were sent during the Capitol riots, as well as an infamous Power Point presentation that outlined how Trump could stay in power despite losing the election to President Joe Biden.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), in justifying her vote in favor of recommending charges, said that Meadows had no plausible executive privilege claim that could cover refusing to answer questions about documents that he has already handed over to the committee.

The full House of Representatives will now hold a vote on whether to send a recommendation of criminal charges against Meadows to the Department of Justice, which will then decide whether to indict him.