0 wrapups of either palestinian question or more pressing issue of iran, wolf. >> i suspect they talked about it privately. didn't make mention of it in the public statement. thank you very much. and to the viewers, thanks very much for watching. i am wolf blitzer in the situation room. and our out front starts right now. good evening, out front tonight we are standing by for a viewing vote. any minute members of the january 6th select committee are spec to recommend that the full house find donald trump's former chief of staff mark meadows, in contempt of congress for defying a subpoena. we will bring you that vote live. it is expected to start as i said, any minute from now. we are learning that we could hear from other members of the select committee. the other contempt votes you may have seen watching the show you didn't see that, it was the chairman and vice chair chairman tomppson and vice chair cheney. tonight we are hearing from an aide to benny thompson that he will recognize any member of the committee who wishes to speak on the resolution. you can see them walking out to take their seat. so, just to let everyone know, as they do so, mark meadows is at the heart of the investigation. deeply involved in former president trump's efforts to overturn election. literally by trump's side during the insurrection and the stone walling is an about face. what they will is presumably things we haven't seen in the document they put out. they put out a 55 page document in his contempts and what he provide. he provided 6,000 pages of documents to the committee before he decided he was not going to talk about them or provide anything more. and those documents include a messuage and january 5th claiming the national guard will be present to protect pro trump people. and just moments we expect to learn more live about what's in the documents and we could be hearing that from the other committee members. so, as they are all seated, i don't know if -- he just gavel in so let's start listening. >> united states capitol would be in order. the select committee is meeting this evening to consider a report on the resolution recommending the house of representatives finds mark randall meadows in contempt of congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued about the select committee to investigate january 6th attack on the united states capitol. without objection the chair is authorized to declare the committee and recess at any time. i will recognize myself for an opening statement. before i start, my statement, let me on behalf of the committee, add our condolences and prayers to the people of kentucky and surrounding states on the devastation they have received during the tornadoes. our hearts and prayers go out to all of those impacted. this week, i expect that roughly a dozen key witnesses will provide testimony on the record in our investigation. we will hear from many more informally as we continue to gather facts about the violence of january 6th and the causes. that should put us way up north of the 300 mark in terms of witnesses who have given us information. add to that more than 30,000 records and nearly 250 tips on our tip line and anyone listening at home tonight, if you have any information, you want to share with us, you can find our tip line on the select committee's website. january 6th.house.gov. the court of appeals in washington has ruled quickly in our favor regarding the select committee's work to uncover relevant information on and day to day we are getting a clearer picture of what happened, who was involved, and who paid for it and where the money went. i am pleased to report we are making swift progress and before too long, our findings will be out in the open. we will have public hearings, we will tell this story to the american people, but we won't do it piece mill. we will do it when we can tell the story all at once from start to finish. not leaving anyone guessing and not allowing it to fade into the memories of last week's news. the story is too important. the stakes are too high, and we have to do this job right. and that means we have to address the handful of outliers, soberly and appropriately. that's why we are here this evening. the select committee's report referring mr. meadows for criminal contempt charges is clear and compelling. as white house chief of staff, mr. meadows played a role in or was witness to key events leading up to and including the january 6th assault on the united states capitol. don't let lawsuits or op eds but executive privileges about mr. meadows or his representatives confuse you. it comes down to this, mr. meadows started by doing the right thing, cooperating. he handed over records that he didn't try to shield behind some excuse. but in an investigation like ours, that's just the first step. when the records raise questions as these most certainly do, you have to come in and answer the questions. and when it is time for him to follow the law, come in and testify on those questions. he changed his mind. and he told us to pound sand. he didn't even show up. now, this happened the same day this book was published. the same book that goes into detail about matters the select committee is reviewing. it also details conversations he had with president trump and others, covers conversations we want to hear more about. he had also appeared on national television discussing the events of january 6th. he has no credible excuse for stonewalling the select committee's investigation. we did receive another letter today. from mr. meadows' attorney asking that we not hold this -- his client in criminal contempt. without objection, that letter will be made part of the record. a small group of people have gotten a lot of attention because of their defiance. but many others have taken a different path and provided important information about january 6th and the context in which the riot occurred. anyone who wants to cooperate with our investigation can do so. nearly everyone has. our democracy was inches from ruin. our system of government was stretched to the breaking point. members and staff were terrorized. police officers fought hand-to- hand for hours. people lost their lives. the select committee recently toured the capitol and saw firsthand what our brave capitol police had to endure and heard them say if it had not been for the metropolitan police arrival, rioters would have succeeded. god only know what the outcome would have been if that occurred. we want to figure out why and share that information with the american people. either you are on the side of helping us figure out why, or you are trying to stop us from getting those answers. you can parade out whatever arguments you want, but really, that's all there is to it. and in real life, there are not a lot of bright line moments. this is one of them. and if you are listening at home, mr. meadows, mr. bannon, mr. clarke, i want you to know this. history will be written about these times, about the work this committee has undertaken, and history will not look upon any of you as martyrs. history will not look upon you as a victim. history will not gil dwell on your list of privileged claims or your legal slight of hand. history will record that in a critical moment, in our democracy, most people were on the side of finding the truth or providing accountability, of strengthening our system for future generations. and history will also record in this critical moment that some people would not, some people hid behind excuses, went to great lengths to avoid answering questions and explaining what they had done and what they knew. i predict that history won't be kind to those people. what's especially jarring about the referral we are considering tonight is that mr. meadows was a member of this body for more than seven years. he was a leading voice in certain corners even briefly the ranking member of the oversight and reform committee. it's not hard to locate records of his time in the house, and find mr. meadows full of indignation because at the time, a pride advation was not was not cooperating with an investigation into his saturdays fact. this is his legacy his former colleagues singling him out for criminal prosecution he wouldn't answer questions about what he knows about a brutal attack on our democracy. that is his legacy. but he is hasn't left us any choice. mr. meadows put himself in this situation and he must now accept the consequences. i will support the select committee's adoption of this report, recommending the house fight mark randall meadows for contempt of congress and refer him to the department of justice for prosecution. i will yield to a distinguished leader of the select committee mr. cheney of wyoming for any opening remarks she cares to make. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. we are here to address a very serious matter. contempt of congress by a former chief of staff to former president of the united states. we do not do this lightly. and indeed, we hoped not to take this step at all. for weeks, as the chairman noted, we worked with mr. meadows' council to reach an agreement on cooperation. but shortly before his scheduled deposition, mr. meadows walked away from his commitment to appear. and informed us he would no longer cooperate. we believe mr. meadows is improperly asserting executive and other privileges, but this vote on contempt today relates principally to mr. meadows' refusal to testify about text messages and other communications that he admits are not privileged. he has not claimed and does not have any privilege basis to refuse entirely to testify regarding the topics. let mow give just three examples. first, president trump's failure to stop the violence. on january 6th, our capitol building was attacked and invaded. the mob was summoned to washington by president trump. and as many of those involved have admitted, on videotape, in social media, and in federal district court, they were provoked to violence by president trump's false claims that the election was stolen. the violence was evidence to all, it was covered in roll time by almost newschannel. for 187 minutes, president trump refused to act. when action by our president was required, essential and indeed compelled by his oath to our constitution. mr. meadows received numerous text messages which he has produced without any privilege claim implore mr. trump take a specific action we all knew his duty required. the text messages leave no doubt that the white house knew exactly what was happening here at the capitol. members of congress, the press, and others wrote to mark meadows as the attack was underway. one text mr. meadows received said "we are under siege here at the capitol. and another, "they have breached the capitol." and in a third, mark, protesters are literally storming the capitol. breaking windows on doors, rushing in. is trump going to say something? a fourth, there's an armed stand off at the house chamber door. and another, from someone inside the capitol. we are all helpless. dozens of texts including from trump administration officials, urged immediate action by the president. "potus has to come out firmly and tell the protesters to dissipate. someone is going to get killed. in another. mark, he needs to stop this now. a third in all caps, tell them to go home. a fourth, and i quote, potus needs to calm this down. and indeed, according to the records, multiple fox news hosts knew the president needed to act immediately. they texted mr. meadows and he has turned over the texts. "mark, the president needs to tell people in the capitol to go home. this is hurting all of us. he is destroying his legacy. laura ingram wrote. please, get him on tv. dedestroying everything you accomplished ryan texted. ", can he make a statement, ask people to leave the capitol. sean hannity urged. as the violence continued, one of the president's sons texts mr. meadows, "he's got to condemn this asap. the capitol police tweet is not enough. donald trump jr texted. meadows responded. "i am pushing it hard. i agree. still, president trump did not immediately act. donald trump jr texted, again, and again. urging action by the president. "we need an oval office address. he has to lead now. it has gone too far. and gotten out of hand. " but hours passed without necessary action by the president. these nonprivileged texts are further evidence of president trump's supreme dereliction of duty during those 187 minutes. and mr. meadows' testimony will bear on another key question before this committee. did donald trump through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede official proceedings to count electoral votes. mark meadows' testimony is necessary to inform our judgment. he refused to give any testimony at all. even regarding nonprivileged topics. he is is in contempt of congress. mr. meadows also has knowledge regarding president trump's efforts to persuade state officials to alter their official election results. in georgia, for instance, mr. meadows participated on a phone call between president trump and georgia secretary of state raffensberger and meadows was on the phone when president trump asked the secretary of state to "find 11,780 votes. to change the results of the presidential election in georgia. we know from the text mr. meadows turned over that at the time of that call, he appears to have been texting other participants on the call. again, mr. meadows has no conceivable privilege baseis to refuse to testify on this topic. he is in contempt. third, in the weeks before january 6th, president trump's appointees at the justice department, informed him repeatedly that the president's claims of election fraud were not supported by the evidence. and that the election was not in fact stolen. president trump intended to appoint jeffrey clarke, as attorney general he. in part so mr. clarke could alter department of justice's conclusions regarding the election. mr. clarke informed the committee that he anticipates potential criminal prosecutions related to the matters. and intends in upcoming testimony to invoke his 5th amendment privilege against self-incrimination. as mr. meadows nonprivileged texts reveal, meadows communicated multiple times with the member of congress who was working with mr. clarke. mr. meadows has no basis to refuse to testify regarding those communications. he is in contempt. january 6th was without precedence. there has been no stronger case in the nation's history for a congressional investigation into the action of a former president. this investigation is not like other congressional inquiries. our constitution, the structure of our institutions, and the rule of law which are at the heart of what makes america great are at stake. we cannot be satisfied with incomplete answers or half truths. and we cannot surrender to president trump's efforts to hide what happened. we will be persistent, professional, and nonpartisan. and we will get to the objective truth to ensure that january 6th never happens again. i yield back. >> young lady yields back. pursuant to notice i call up the report on a resolution recommending that the house of representatives finds mark randall meadows in contempt of congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the select committee to investigate the january 6th attack on the united states capitol. the report was circulated in advance and printed copies are available. the clerk shall designate the report. >> report on a resolution recommending that the house of representatives find mark randall meadows in contempt of congress for refusal to comply with the subpoena duly issued by the select committee to investigate the january 6th attack on the united states capitol. >> without objection the report will be considered as read and opened to amendment as any point. the chair recognizes the generalwoman from california. >> thank you, mr. chairman. like all of us on the committee -- mark med [inaudible] reasonably when -- we certainly didn't agree on policy matters, i wished him well and when he left congress to serve the staff for then president donald trump in 2020. shocking we now have to face the fact that mr. meadows admits he played an official role in trying to undermined the results of the 2020 presidential election. this committee's job is to find out about that plot. the plot which led up to the events on january 6th, and to propose legislative changes to prevent something that from ever happening again. and it's been reported that during the lead up to january 6th, the white house was directing the department of justice to investigate outrageously crazy conspiracy theories to try to seed doubt about the election and as a president president kit of replacement of the lectors to benefit mr. trump's effort to overturn the election. we need to talk to mark meadows about that. as the vice chair has mentioned, mr. meadows made a surprise visit to the state run audit inia, which preceded the call that she recited where the then president asked the secretary state to go find votes. we need to talk to mark meadows about that. mr. meadows, interacted with a lot of people, allegedly, including some of our own colleagues on the day of the violent attack and we have learned many of those interactions took place on a personal cell phone device. so we need to ask mark meadows about that. mr. meadows, himself, has acknowledged that he has responses and nonprivileged documents and communications. he sent some of them to us, he filed others in court. it certainly appears in meadows played a key role in the events that culminated in the attack on the capitol and our democracy and he has important information about the events and he must follow the law and cooperate with the committee's lawful request, or face the consequences. that's why as much as we might personally like mr. meadows, we have to take this action today because no one is above the law. thank you mr. chairman. >> general lady yields back. the gentleman from illinois, mr. klingser. >> this is a near unique moment in history. s we vote on whether to hold a former colleague in contempt of congress. last time that happened was 1832. mark meadows has committed a crime in this case, a premeditated one. he thought carefully about his actions and actively chose to stone wall what you can clearly see in the back and forth with the select committee. first he produced over 9,000 pages of documents from his time in the white house. a after his former boss made it clear his i did appointment and displeasure shall didn't want to aid and refused to answer a single question from his former colleagues or even to show up at all. this constitutes legal contempt. but also personal contempt. mark meadows' actions demonstrates contempt for congress, for the select committee for his former colleague, and for the integrity of the democratic process. he has clearly rejected this committee's investigation so now it's time to see whether the department of justice can be more persuasive. no one is above the law. not even a former president's chief of staff. in a nation of laws, you cannot have it both ways. he can't decline to tell the story to congress and on the same day publish part of that story in a book to line his pockets. he can't decline to produce documents even can't unspeak what he has said and call it privileged after the fact. it is perfectly conceivable that portions of what a president's chief of staff knows is subject to a presidential privilege shielding it from disclosure. but it is also truth that not everything he knew or did during that period is privileged. mark meadows knows that. it's why he sent us the documents he did, and why he -- what made his book possible. that's why the law required him to show up for his deposition and specify in response to each question, what the answer was an