WASHINGTON (Washington Insider Magazine) – The Justice department has notified the House select panel investigating the insurgency of Jan. 6, 2021, that it will not prosecute 2 former Trump White House executives who were found in contempt by the panel.
According to a source acquainted with the information, US Attorney Matt Graves informed House General Counsel Doug Letter that the Department Of Justice had finished its review and chose not to pursue criminal contempt charges against Messrs Scavino and Meadows, as sought in the referral.
The New York Times was the first to report that Dan Scavino, Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, and Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, would not be charged.
The Justice Department’s move marks a setback for the House committee’s attempts to enforce subpoenas connected to the inquiry, and it may encourage other Trump allies who face similar requests to refuse to cooperate. It comes on the same day that Peter Navarro, a former White House trade advisor, was charged with obstruction of justice for refusing to cooperate with the panel.
Navarro, unlike Meadows and Scavino, openly disregarded the panel’s directive and made no attempt to reach an agreement. Scavino’s and Meadows’ subpoenas were also complex.
Both people held high-ranking positions in Trump’s West Wing and thus had stronger claims to make for executive privilege. At various stages during the investigation, everyone made an effort to collaborate with the panel. Meadows gave the panel thousands of pages of documentation, including text messages, which have formed a key part of their work.
The Justice Department’s conclusion, according to an attorney acquainted with the Scavino and Meadows cases, came as no surprise. They contended that, unlike Steve Bannon and Navarro, who were both indicted, Meadows and Scavino had significant claims of privilege and had engaged the panel.
Navarro is the 2nd former Trump adviser to be indicted for criminal contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a panel subpoena on Jan. 6. He faces 2 counts of contempt: one for failing to produce documents requested by the panel and the other for failing to appear for subpoenaed testimony before House investigators. Steve Bannon, a former Trump strategist, is scheduled to stand trial later in the summer.
House Democrats and others on the left have rebuked the Justice Department for not being more confrontational in its January 6 investigation, especially when it comes to the role Trump and his close associates played in attempting to rig the 2020 presidential election and making false claims of massive voter fraud that fueled the violent invasion on the US Capitol.
However, there have been new hints that the government has stepped up its probe into a conspiracy to place phony Trump-supporting electors on ballots in states won by President Joe Biden.
