U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols did not immediately rule on
whether the subpoenaed communications must be provided to the
Jan. 6 committee. Meadows' attorneys say the messages are
protected by executive privilege, which allows presidential
communications with top aides to remain private, and that
Meadows has "absolute immunity" from being called to testify.
The hearing was held days after a federal judge in Florida
agreed in a separate case to a third-party review of documents
seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to determine whether they
are protected by executive privilege.
Meadows initially cooperated with the Jan. 6 committee last
year, but later sued the panel over the subpoenas. The U.S.
House of Representatives earlier this year voted to refer
Meadows to the U.S. Justice Department for contempt of Congress,
but the department declined to charge him.
The select committee told the court it has narrowed down the
information it wants from Meadows, including what he witnessed
at the White House during the riots. U.S. House lawyer Douglas
Letter argued that those talks are not protected because they
did not concern official White House business.
Letter acknowledged the committee is not seeking a court order
to compel Meadows to appear before congressional investigators,
but hopes he will if the judge rejects Meadows' legal arguments.
Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger told the court the former
chief of staff has already provided the committee with all the
nonprivileged information it is seeking and turned over a log of
privileged material.
He said having Meadows testify would undermine the
confidentiality typically granted to high-level White House
discussions.
U.S. Justice Department lawyer Elizabeth Shapiro told the court
the department does not believe absolute immunity applies to
former senior aides once a president leaves office, but that
protections for top White House communications remain in place.
(Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen; Editing by David Bario and
Jonathan Oatis)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|