Mark Meadows says he won’t cooperate with the House January 6 committee

Su notes that Biden has already determined that executive privilege does not apply to particular subjects within the committee’s purview, including: “events within the White House on or about January 6, 2021; attempts to use the Department of Justice to advance a false narrative that the 2020 election was tainted by widespread fraud; and other efforts to alter election results or obstruct the transfer of power.”

“Contrary to decades of consistent bipartisan opinions from the Justice Department that senior aides cannot be compelled by Congress to give testimony, this is the first President to make no effort whatsoever to protect presidential communications from being the subject of compelled testimony. Mr. Meadows remains under the instructions of former President Trump to respect longstanding principles of executive privilege. It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict,” Terwilliger told CNN in a statement.

Later Thursday, a White House official pushed back forcefully against Terwilliger’s claims, telling CNN he is “wrong on both the facts and the law.”

“Mark Meadows hardly has claim to complain about norms and traditions — Meadows participated in an effort to subvert the Constitution and overturn a presidential election, including by pressuring state elections officials to alter election results and by personally attempting to coerce the Department of Justice into investigating absurd conspiracy theories,” the official said.

But weeks after the committee granted Meadows a “short” but indefinite postponement of the initial subpoena deadline, members are growing increasingly frustrated and have been contemplating when and how to ramp up the pressure.

This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.