Mark Meadows is staring down possible criminal contempt charges if he doesn't show up for a scheduled interview with the House select committee.
The former White House chief of staff has already turned over key documents to Jan. 6 investigators but has backed out of a face-to-face interview in an apparent attempt to stall until next year, when a potential Republican congressional majority would take over the probe, reported CNN.
"Maybe (Meadows') conflict was with his book tour," said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA). "The only thing that really changed was the former president's posture. According to press reports, the former president wasn't happy with Mr. Meadows and a lot of these folks, just, you know, clearly as we saw on Jan. 5 and 6, do whatever the former president wants."
Meadows, whose new book The Chief's Chief came out Tuesday, has already supplied the committee with evidence that showed he was in communication with "individuals that were responsible for the planning of (the rally on) Jan. 6," Aguilar said.
The former North Carolina congressman's attorney sent a letter to the select committee saying that Meadows was skipping out on the meeting because investigators had subpoenaed "information from a third party communications provider," which most likely refers to metadata about phone calls and texts that would show whom he'd contacted and when.
Attorney George Terwilliger argued those communications were protected by executive privilege, but President Joe Biden has repeatedly refused to shield Trump evidence and Democrats have pointed out that Meadows had already shared private information about the former president in his book.
Trump angrily denied some interpretations of Meadows book, which he dismissed as "fake news," and the former chief staffer agreed.
“Well, the president’s right," Meadows told Newsmax. "It’s fake news.”
READ MORE: 'God had cornered me': Mark Meadows explains why he had no choice but to work in Trump's White House
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