Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows complied with a Department of Justice subpoena in its investigation into the Jan. 6 riot, turning over the same materials he previously gave to the Jan. 6 Committee, CNN reported on Thursday.
Meadows is the highest-ranking Trump official reported to have complied with a subpoena in the Justice Department’s investigation thus far. The DOJ has issued about 40 subpoenas to various associates of former President Trump in connection with its Jan. 6 probe, which appears to be ramping up, The New York Times reported earlier this week.
Last year, Meadows turned over 2,319 texts to the House Jan. 6 Committee that he sent and received between Election Day in 2020 and President Biden’s inauguration in January 2021.
The texts showed Meadows communicating with several officials about efforts to find election fraud and challenge election results, as well as Republican lawmakers pleading with the former chief of staff to get Trump to stop the Jan. 6 riot.
Fox commentators Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade and Laura Ingraham, as well as Trump’s own son Donald Trump Jr., also urged Meadows to get Trump to condemn the attack, the texts revealed.
After refusing to cooperate further with the committee, the House voted to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress in December 2021, though the DOJ ultimately chose not to prosecute Meadows on the charge.
Meadows’ attorney and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.