Trump’s former chief of employees backtracks, says he received’t cooperate with Jan. 6 probe – Nationwide

In an abrupt reversal, an lawyer for former White Home chief of employees Mark Meadows stated his shopper is not going to cooperate with a Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol assault, citing a breakdown in negotiations with the panel.

Legal professional George Terwilliger stated in a letter Tuesday {that a} deposition can be “untenable” as a result of the Jan. 6 panel “has no intention of respecting boundaries” regarding questions that former President Donald Trump has claimed are off-limits due to govt privilege. Terwilliger additionally stated that he discovered over the weekend that the committee had issued a subpoena to a third-party communications supplier that he stated would come with “intensely private” data.

Terwilliger stated in a press release final week that he was persevering with to work with the committee and its employees on a possible lodging that will not require Meadows to waive the manager privileges claimed by Trump or “forfeit the long-standing place that senior White Home aides can’t be compelled to testify” earlier than Congress.

“We recognize the Choose Committee’s openness to receiving voluntary responses on non-privileged matters,” he stated then.

A spokesperson for the panel didn’t have rapid touch upon Terwilliger’s letter. The committee’s chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, stated final week that Meadows had been participating with the panel by his lawyer, producing data and agreeing to look for an preliminary deposition.

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Thompson stated the committee would “proceed to evaluate his diploma of compliance with our subpoena after the deposition.” He has stated that any witnesses who don’t comply can be held in contempt of Congress.

In halting cooperation, Terwilliger additionally cited feedback from Thompson that he stated unfairly solid aspersions on witnesses who invoke their Fifth Modification proper in opposition to self-incrimination. A separate witness, former Justice Division official Jeffrey Clark, has stated he’ll invoke these Fifth Modification rights.

“On account of cautious and deliberate consideration of those components, we now should decline the chance to look voluntarily for a deposition,” Terwilliger wrote within the letter.

The reversal comes as Meadows has been receiving consideration for a brand new e book, launched Tuesday, which revealed that Trump acquired a optimistic COVID-19 check earlier than a presidential debate and was far sicker than the White Home revealed on the time.

Trump — who advised his supporters to “struggle like hell” earlier than lots of of his supporters broke into the Capitol and stopped the presidential electoral depend — has tried to hinder a lot of the committee’s work, together with in an ongoing court docket case, by arguing that Congress can not acquire details about his personal White Home conversations.

Related Press author Jill Colvin contributed to this report.