WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has accused a congressional committee investigating last year’s attack on the US Capitol of leaking all text messages he provided to the committee. attempt to denigrate him publicly.
The argument was filed on Friday in federal court in Washington, where Meadows filed a lawsuit in December to overturn summonses issued to him for his testimony and Verizon for recordings on his cell phone.
In the last motion, Meadows’ lawyers asked a judge to reject the commission’s request for a court ruling in her favor, which could force Meadows to comply with the summons. The commission requested a timetable for an accelerated briefing on Wednesday after submitting its proposal last week.
Lawyers say Meadows deserves a chance through the fact-finding process, known as discovery, to gather information on issues that are still in dispute, such as the commission’s claims that former President Donald Trump did not properly invoke the executive privilege on the elements called by the committee as he did not communicate this position directly to the committee.
“Mr Meadows cannot know whether this unsubstantiated allegation is true without disclosure – or whether the elected committee was aware of former President Trump’s allegations,” the proposal said. He added that Meadows must have the ability to receive any communication between the commission and Trump and possibly take testimony from people familiar with these discussions.
In December, the House of Representatives voted for criminal disrespect for Meadows after he stopped cooperating, taking the matter to the Ministry of Justice, which did not say whether to take action. Meadows’ legal team said he had cooperated widely, but that the commission had refused to honor Trump’s claim about executive privilege.
Meadows’ proposal also accuses the commission of waging a “long media campaign” against him. Although he did not provide evidence, he said the committee had expired all text messages Meadows had provided to the committee.
“Congressional defendants, under the auspices of a subpoena, have led Mr Meadows to present thousands of his personal messages only to use them in a concerted and continuous effort to blacken him publicly through the media,” Meadows lawyer George Teruiliger wrote in the proposal.
The court’s court documents show that Meadows was in regular contact before January 6, 2021, with Republican allies making false allegations of election fraud and supporting the annulment of the results of the race won by President Joe Biden. A week ago, the paper cited testimony from a White House official who said Meadows had been notified in advance that there could be violence on Jan. 6.
The commission declined to comment on Meadows’ accusations against the panel on Saturday.
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Associated Press writer Farnush Amiri of Washington contributed to the report.
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