It’s been almost two months (Dec. 14, to be exact) since the House of Representatives voted to refer former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to the Justice Department for criminal contempt of Congress, and yet we haven’t heard a peep. Does that mean the DOJ is dragging its feet?
According to a former U.S. Attorney, it may have less to do with the DOJ moving slowly and more to do with the fact that they’re preparing to charge Meadows with much more serious charges.
Barbara McQuade, who served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017, said Monday on “Deadline: White House” that she suspects both Meadows and former President Donald Trump will possibly be charged with crimes against the United States:
“One reason they may have refrained with charging Mark Meadows with contempt is because they’re thinking of him not as a witness but as a defendant. It could very well be that they’re looking at him as a bigger fish. If they charge him with contempt, it may preclude them from charging him with other things so at the moment, there’s a possibility of other charges, bigger charges on the table.
“I could imagine a scenario where Trump and some of his inner circle are charged with a crime of conspiracy to defraud the United States. That makes it a crime to obstruct the functioning of government, and so the functioning of the workings of the electoral college and congress and certifying the presidential election. Mark Meadows was in the inner circle in all of those meetings.”
McQuade added that Meadows was in the room on several occasions when Trump did things that could get them both criminally charged:
“He was in the meetings with Pence where President Trump was trying to pressure Pence to do — overturn the election by abusing his power as vice president. Mark Meadows was involved in the decisions and the conversations with Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State in Georgia.”
Since Meadows was a witness, he could also be considered a co-conspirator if he failed to tell Trump he had crossed the line legally or resigned in protest and alerted the DOJ to what he had seen and heard, McQuade concluded:
“So, it may very well be that they’re looking to charge him with a more serious crime and thinking of him not as a witness but as a defendant. So, it’s speculation, but it is what — what we’re left with. I know some have expressed frustration with Merrick Garland for moving so slowly and saying so little but I still take a lot of stock in the statements he made about efforts to pursue bad actors at any level, regardless of whether they were there on January 6th or not.”
If Meadows is charged, he’ll only have one way to avoid a lengthy prison sentence: Roll over on Trump and others who were part of the plan that led to the Capitol insurrection. If he refuses, he could be looking at spending 20 years or more in a federal prison.
