Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows insisted Friday that he's done nothing to warrant the House's Jan. 6 special committee to file criminal contempt of Congress charges against him, telling Newsmax that until the group changed its tactics, he'd been working toward making an accommodation to testify.
"They're saying that they're going to hold a contempt vote, possibly as early as next Tuesday on the House floor," Meadows said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Nothing I've done would rise to criminal contempt, but I obviously am going to have to throw [myself] on the mercies and graces of the court."
The committee said Thursday that it will hold a business meeting on Monday to vote on a report that will recommend the full House membership to cite Meadows and refer him for federal prosecution.
The former chief has filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the committee and said Friday that he took action because of the committee's push to gather the information that he says falls under executive privilege guidelines concerning his interactions with then-President Donald Trump.
He commented that he was willing to cooperate with the committee in terms of non-privileged information after Trump made it clear that he would claim executive privilege.
"We honored that, and we have been consistent with that for many, many months," said Meadows. "We've been working with the committee to try to work on an accommodation."
However, Meadows said he backed away after learning that the committee would "try to delve into those things that are protected by executive privilege," and also after learning that his cell phone carrier was subpoenaed.
"We also found, unbeknownst to us, a subpoena was sent to my cellphone carrier that was so broad in scope that it defies logic on how it could have any legislative intent," said Meadows. "They did that without notifying us. This is a position between a rock and hard place. The courts are designed to solve these things."
He added that he hopes that if the committee determines there was no organized plot to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, it will make those findings public.
Meanwhile, there are several "selective leaks" of information being made to the press, said Meadows, and he is concerned because "every member of this select committee has already voted to impeach Donald Trump. ... It's very troubling."
The former chief also told Newsmax that he's not aware that anyone in the West Wing had any advanced knowledge of the violence that took place on Jan. 6.
"We can all condemn the fact that they should not have breached the security," Meadows said of the protesters. "They should have peacefully and patriotically, as President Trump talked about, let their voices be heard."
But still, the Democrats continue to push a "narrative" about Jan. 6, rather than talking about "inflation and Russia, Iran and all the other problems we have in the country. Their primary focus is to take away from the abysmal record of this Biden administration."
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here