Washington (AFP) - US lawmakers will vote on Tuesday to recommend criminal charges in contempt of Congress against Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, over his refusal to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating the break-in. Congress on January 6th.
The recommendation will almost certainly be adopted, which means that the former congressman will move one step closer to becoming the first official of this level to be tried after leaving office since Harry Robbins Haldeman during the Watergate scandal nearly 50 years ago.
We are not pleased to be here... to deal with a recommendation to refer a former colleague of ours for criminal contempt," Liz Cheney, deputy chair of the House Committee, told the House.
She stressed the "seriousness" of the issue, stressing that it was "a step we would not have taken had it not been necessary."
The committee unanimously upheld the criminal prosecution of Mark Meadows on Monday for his refusal to testify in the Capitol storming case.
The committee is looking at Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost, through a campaign that led to the storming of the Capitol building, and the help he received in this from Meadows.
Tuesday, the Washington city authorities filed a complaint against two far-right groups, accusing them of involvement in the January 6 storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.
The lawsuit accuses the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and more than 30 individuals connected to the two groups, of “conspiring to intimidate the District of Columbia,” the official name for the US capital, according to city attorney Karl Racine.