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On Friday, The New York Times reported that the Department of Justice has decided against charging former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Trump social media director Dan Scavino with contempt of Congress.
The reason appears to be that both of them have cooperated with the investigation to a greater degree than other Trump allies who were charged with contempt, chiefly former strategists Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro.
“‘Based on the individual facts and circumstances of their alleged contempt, my office will not be initiating prosecutions for criminal contempt as requested in the referral against Messrs. Meadows and Scavino,’ Matthew M. Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote to Douglas N. Letter, the general counsel of the House, on Friday,” reported Alan Feuer and Luke Broadwater. “‘My office’s review of each of the contempt referrals arising from the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation is complete.’”
“Both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Scavino — who were deeply involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election — engaged in weeks of negotiations with the committee’s lawyers, and Mr. Meadows turned over more than 9,000 documents to the panel, before the House voted to charge them with contempt,” noted the report. “By contrast, Mr. Navarro and his ally Stephen K. Bannon, who has also been charged with contempt, fought the committee’s subpoenas from Day 1 and never entered into negotiations.”
“Asked for comment, Mr. Meadows’s lawyer, George J. Terwilliger III, said, ‘The result speaks for itself,’” said the report. “A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Scavino declined to comment.”
Navarro, who was arrested at the airport after his indictment, responded with a furious public rant baselessly alleging prosecutorial misconduct in front of a federal judge.
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