Jan. 6 panel urges judge to allow ex-Trump aide Meadows' testimony

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' conversations with then-President Donald Trump during last year's siege on the U.S. Capitol should not be shielded from lawmakers, a lawyer for the congressional committee probing the riots told a judge in Washington on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols did not immediately rule on whether the subpoenaed communications must be provided to the Jan. 6 committee. Meadows' attorneys say the messages are protected by executive privilege, which allows presidential communications with top aides to remain private, and that Meadows has "absolute immunity" from being called to testify.

-snip-

Meadows initially cooperated with the Jan. 6 committee last year, but later sued the panel over the subpoenas. The U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year voted to refer Meadows to the U.S. Justice Department for contempt of Congress, but the department declined to charge him.

The select committee told the court it has narrowed down the information it wants from Meadows, including what he witnessed at the White House during the riots. U.S. House lawyer Douglas Letter argued that those talks are not protected because they did not concern official White House business.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jan-6-panel-urges-judge-to-allow-ex-trump-aide-meadows-testimony/ar-AA11zsls

[Joinfortmill]

1. We're at the heart of it now.

[H2O Man]

2. Recommended.

This is good.

[Mr. Ected]

3. Might better not get our hopes too high

"Immediately after law school, Judge Nichols served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States....Nichols was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP from 2010 until his appointment to the bench in 2019".

[Qutzupalotl]

4. I wish a court would carve out a crime-fraud exception for EP

like there is for attorney-client privilege, so maybe presidents wouldn't crime so much.

Not holding my breath with this judge, though.

[Walleye]

5. He doesn't mean executive privilege, he means Trump privilege

[Volaris]

7. Exactly. BIDEN controls what is, and isn't, EP at this point.

Has nothing to do with Meadows, or Trump.

[Walleye]

8. I always thought executive privilege as a matter of separation of powers

But this is the former executive branch invoking it against the current executive branch. Makes no sense

[Volaris]

9. The power of EP rests with (and exists for the benefit of) the executive branch,

Which means BIDEN is it's current arbiter. IF Trump wanted to claim EP over some thing from his time in office, Biden can do that for him (or not) as BIDEN deems appropriate.

But Trump (and as far as I know ONLY TRUMP) has to ask.

Meadows is just trying to bullshit the court, and it didn't make any sense when Nixon tried the same nonsense, either. That's what the court said then, anyway.

[NullTuples]

6. Judge Carl Nichols - oh, hey...another Trump appointee. What could go wrong?

Federalist Society member
NARAL member
All but 4 Dems voted against his confirmation

[onecaliberal]

10. There is no privilege when it comes to crimes.

[sarcasmo]

11. Can't wait for season 2.