Former US President Donald Trump’s then-Chief of Staff has made a PowerPoint presentation to the US House Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack, detailing plans to declare a national emergency to maintain the presidency.
The powerpoint, which was sent in an email to Mark Meadows, was titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference and Options for January 6,” and presented several possible courses of action for Trump to derail Congress’s authentication of election results. Can be dropped that day, The Guardian told Saturday.
Meadows, who served as Trump’s chief of staff during his last days in office, is seen as a key witness to attempts to reverse the election by undemocratic means. A source familiar with the matter told the newspaper that they received a 38-page presentation in an email ahead of the certification process.
After initially ignoring a summons to testify before a House of Representatives committee, Meadows later struck an agreement on sharing information with lawmakers – before reversing course again. The PowerPoint presentation was submitted to the committee as part of that agreement.
It recommended that in order for Trump to annul the November 2020 election result in which he lost to now-US President Joe Biden, he should first tell senators and members of Congress about foreign interference, then declare a national emergency. declare and declare all electronic voting invalid. , The report said he could then, recommend the presentation, ask Congress to agree on a “constitutionally acceptable” measure.
Powerpoint also outlined options for then-Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt the election certification process, by appointing Trump voters in key Democratic states or by rejecting votes from those states, overseeing them as primarily ceremonial. had a role.
Electoral College votes are brought before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, who chair a joint session of Congress to ratify the 2020 Electoral College results, after supporters of President Donald Trump earlier in the day Raid the Capitol on Capitol Hill. DC on January 6, 2020 (Erin Scheff/Pool/AFP)
The report said the powerpoint was presented to several Republican senators and representatives on January 4.
After submitting a presentation and several other materials related to the January 6 attack, Meadows said last week he was no longer willing to cooperate with the investigation, after investigators threatened him with criminal prosecution.
Meadows’ attorney George Terwilliger said in a new letter to the committee circulated among the US media, “Now the actions of the select committee have made such an appearance untenable.”
The lawyer said Meadows had a change of mind when he learned over the weekend that the committee had “issued extensive subpoenas seeking information from a third-party communications provider.”
“We now have every indication from the information provided last Friday – on which Mr Meadows can be expected to be questioned – that the selection committee has no intention of respecting the limits relating to executive privilege,” Terwilliger wrote. .
Trump has invoked “executive privilege” – a carve-out available in principle to protect sensitive private exchanges with assistants only to current presidents – to avoid turning over documents requested by the committee.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks on a phone call on the South Lawn of the White House on October 30, 2020 in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The panel rejected Meadows’ claim of executive privilege, noting that the hardline former Republican congressman had provided too many details about the attack, including his conversations with then-President Trump, in a new book.
In an interview that aired late Tuesday on conservative broadcaster Fox News, Meadow said that “hopefully the courts can act on this,” adding that she had tried to accommodate non-privileged information “to ensure doing that executive privilege is protected.”
Panel chairman Benny Thompson and his deputy Liz Cheney said in a statement that they plan to move forward with a statement from a Trump loyalist scheduled for Wednesday.
“If indeed Mr. Meadows refuses to appear, the selection committee shall be left with no option but to pursue contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served be referred for criminal prosecution.”