NOW: the hearing to consider contempt referrals for Mark Meadows is underway. I'll be live tweeting...
Bennie Thompson (BT): we are north of 300 witnesses, 30K documents and over 350 tips on the tipline. We are making progress and our finding will be out in the open soon. We will have public hearings once we have the entire story.
BT: the report referring Meadows is clear and convincing. Meadows played a role. Don't let lawsuits or op-eds about privilege claims confuse you. He started by cooperating and handed over records, but that's just the first step.
As the records raised questions, he changed his mind and told us to "pound sand" on the SAME DAY his book was published, which details much of what we wanted to ask. He also appeared on national TV (Fox), so he has no credible excuse
BT: we then got a letter from meadows' lawyer today and that will be entered into the record. Nearly everyone else has cooperated with our investigation.
Liz Cheney (LC): Let me give three examples of text messages Meadows handed over to us that we have questions about. The mob was provoked to violence by Donald Trump. But for 187 minutes, trump refused to act.
LC. Meadows received numerous text messages which he has produced without any privilege claims. These messages leave NO DOUBT the white house knew about the violence...
LC: One text he received said "we are under siege at the capitol." Another: "They have breached the capitol'. A third "They are storming the capitol. breaking windows and doors rushing in. Is trump going to say anything?"
LC: a fourth message "there's an armed standoff at the chamber door." Another saying "we are all helpless.". Another from a trump aide: "Trump has to tell them to dissipate, Someone is going to get killed."
LC: Another text said "TELL THEM TO GO HOME". Another "POTUS needs to calm this shit down." Multiple FOX news hosts texted meadows "Mark, the president needs to tell people in the capitol to go home, this is hurting all of us" (Laura ingraham wrote that)
Sean Hannity to Meadows in a text: "Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the capitol"
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