US House passes measure to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress

The US House of Representatives passed a resolution to hold former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to fully cooperate with the committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.

The House passed the measure on Tuesday night with a 222-208 vote, which paves the way for the Department of Justice to prosecute former President Donald Trump's chief of staff for failing to testify before the House panel.

Contempt of Congress charges can result in a penalty of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to USD 1,00,000.

Meadows refused to testify before the House committee probing the January 6 event, claiming he could not discuss issues covered by executive privilege, which include real-time communications with individuals as the events of January 6 unfolded.

The House committee rejected Meadows' argument about executive privilege, arguing President Joe Biden did not try to use any power of executive privilege to protect Meadows from having to testify.

Meadows recently filed charges against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and all nine members of the House Committee as they were preparing contempt charges against him. Meadows asked the court to invalidate the subpoena the House Committee had issued to him and to Verizon, the cellular operator for his prior personal phone records.

Besides Meadows, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is being prosecuted for refusing to cooperate with the House Committee probe into the Capitol riot. He faces two counts of contempt of Congress, to which he pleaded not guilty, for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena that ordered him to provide testimony.