0 practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. republican leaders of the house and senate get tonight s last words. the 11th hour starts right now. do good evening, i am stephanie ruhle, day 358 of the biden administration. the day the lawmakers investigating the capitol riots set their sights on what may be their most significant target yet. late today, the january six committee at the top house republican and close trump ally, kevin mccarthy, for a voluntary interview. the house committee six-page letter to mccarthy asked for details about his communications with trump during and after the right. the lawmakers also want to know about mccarthy s contact with white house chief of staff, mark meadows, in the days that led up to january six. he s made significant public statements about what occurred on january six and we d like to hear from him. full he gave a statement on the floor about president trump bearing some responsibility for what occurred. i
important things were sort of waiting to happen at any point now that we re into the new year. first of all, in terms of the criminal investigation, that speech by attorney general merrick garland on wednesday will be important in large part because there has been no indication thus far that the justice department is investigating the people who actually planned the coup, the people who tried to orchestrate that attack on the capitol, not just for fun or for free expression, but because it was part of a plan to stop the transfer of power to the new president, to overthrow the government. if the justice department is investigating the big crime there instead of just the individuals who took part in it at the lowest levels, presumably this wednesday s speech by attorney general merrick garland would be the attorney general s best opportunity to tell the country about a change in focus or at least an additional development in their investigation. so that will be a highly anticipated set o
attorney general garland, as i think the questions get more and more pointed and pregnant in terms of whether or not anyone who planned the overthrow of the government is going to face any reckoning for it in criminal law. so that s wednesday. open question, potentially to be answered by the attorney general on that day. we re also right now still waiting on the department of justice to decide whether they re going to prosecute criminal contempt charges against trump s white house chief of staff mark meadows. mr. meadows, you may recall, in december refused to hand over materials and testify to the january 6th investigation. congress then referred mr. meadows to the justice department for prosecution. the justice department hasn t said anything about it since. that referral was 2 1/2 weeks ago. it was december 14th or 15th, i think. for context, when the justice department obtained an indictment against trump adviser steve bannon under similar circumstances in november, that took three
0 they are going to put down and lay down the law to. it not there yet. it s coming, don t worry. i m in communication with their kids on. this don t worry. planning the and thanks to you at home for joining us at this hour, happy new year to you as well, good to have you back with us. in washington, d.c., they celebrated the first day after the holiday by getting a huge pile of snow dumped on the capitol cap capito capital city and shutting down most of the federal government because of it. happy new year. this is how we re starting. in addition to most federal offices being closed because of the snowstorm at the capitol today, the senate is supposed to be in session this week. they were supposed to taking at least one senate vote today. but that all got slid to tomorrow because of the storm. that said, this afternoon the capitol physician, the doctor for the house and the senate, sent a sobering, detailed letter to the democratic and republican leaders of the senate, telling th
house of representatives is expected to hold trump confidant steve bannon in contempt of congress and refer the matter to the justice department for prosecution. then it s up to the acting u.s. attorney in dc and ultimately the attorney general on whether to bring criminal charges against bannon. the house of representatives votes for referral of a contempt charge. the department of justice will do what it always does in such circumstances. it will apply the facts and the law and make a decision consistent with the principles of prosecution. the pressure on merrick garland will be intense. and his decision on whether to prosecute will be consequential, not only for bannon and donald trump, but also the future ability of congressional power to call witnesses, demand information and documents, and enforce subpoenas for those who refuse to cooperate. now, if history is any indicator, the doj has