Page 588 - Contempt News Today

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection is poised to vote on a criminal contempt of Congress referral for former top Department of Justice official, Jeffrey Clark, the

Executive privilege. the committee is arguing they need the information to get to the bottom of their investigation. they will make those arguments in court tomorrow, wolf. >> lots going on this week. ryan nobles up on capitol hill, thank you. lets get more on all of this. joining us now cnns senior law enforcement analyst andrew mccabe the author of the book "the threat: how the fbi protects america in the age of terror and trump" and also with is our senior legal analyst ellie honig with us, h...

Week. >> carrie, how do you think the select committee should handle the meadows problem. should be he held in contempt. >> i think the members are previewing that they are prepared to make that criminal referral. but i do think there is a a wide av.a. of individuals that fall in between a steve bannon and not in any official capacity and mark meadows who was the chief of staff. from my perspective, mark meadow does not have valid claims for reasons and not testifying and complying with the comm...

In the next day, two days or so, a and i think, you know, people will be very pleased with that. bottom line is this committee is going to get to answers. were going to do what we need to do. >> if im translating thats 18 seconds to say were going to hold him in contempt. >> i dont know that i would take that far of a step. the committee recognizes theres complications with the meadows subpoena thats different than with steve bannon. >> because he was chief of staff. >> they dont have to go to c...

Vote for contempt. >> pete williams, is it your sense that, as bres points out, one of them might have more of a claim to executive privilege than the other? >> i dont think theres much claim about that. it is a theory created by the courts, and it basically says presidents ought to have candid advice, and if people around the president is afraid their advice, what they say, will eventually become public, they will hold back and not give the president the unvarnished truth. its the strongest lev...

Before trial. meanwhile, questions remain about former white house chief of staff mark meadows. the committee has threatened to seek criminal contempt charges against him as well but have yet to take that step. >> i think we will probably make a decision this week on our course of conduct with that particular witness. >> reporter: what that decision is remains an open question. but the committee has not ruled out any option. >> this was an assault on a peaceful transfer of power and we do need t...

Expected to happen as soon as wednesday. elie, your thoughts? >> anna, this is a necessary and smart move by the committee. it is necessary because jeffrey clark was running a coup inside of doj that was designed to help donald trumps larger coup to steal the election and he straight up defied committee. you have to hold him in contempt. i think it is interesting, it is smart because on the 1k5i8 of executive privilege, on one side you have steve bannon who did not work in the executive branch, ...

Happens 678 sometimes different members have said things that the time line that the committee is operating under that havent always proven to be totally accurate. of course it is possible we will get news about med knows the next day or so. again, i would believe in a when it cams. clark by himself, though s a huge deal. if the committee does vote to hold him in contempt which i think is almost certain to happen, and then if the house refers it over to the justice department, you would have a r...

Powerful message to other witnesses also currently under subpoena. we know there are many witnesses who have received subpoenas. we saw several come out last week to a couple notable witnesses. they have to move forward with the referrals if they have any hope of others considering this seriously and deciding to cooperate. >> we are waiting to see what steps the committee will take on former white house chief of staff mark meadows. how complicated could it be to pursue contempt knowing meadows m...

Is a hung jury. they may look for one or two people in the jury box and try to appeal to their emotions as much as appeal to their sense of the facts and the law. >> glenn, i only have less than a minute left. i want to ask you about another case of high interest to both you and i, the january 6th investigation and the steve bannon contempt case. it does not appear yet that the contempt charge against steve bannon has shaken loose more testimony. is the january 6th committee at any risk of kind ...