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| credit: S. Nease |
Latest: Late Friday, Clark informed the Committee he would not be appearing at his deposition due to a heath problem. The chairman postponed his appearance until December 16th. According to a record made by the Committee chief counsel at Clark's previous appearance where he walked out at midday, Clark would have been asked about White House involvement in drafting the letter to be sent to Georgia state officials requesting an investigation of fraud allegations. Apparently metadata associated with that draft indicates a source within the White House communications office.
Update: John Eastman, author of the memo that erroneously concluded the VP has the power to intervene in an election vote count, announced he will also plead the Fifth in a letter to Select Committee Chair Benny Thompson.
Update: More significant developments took place in the J6 Insurrection investigation by the House Select Committee this week. The Committee finally voted unanimously to hold former DOJ attorney Kenneth Clark in contempt of Congress for failing to comply completely with his October 13th subpoena for testimony and production of documents. He held the Committee off for months with dilatory tactics. He will nevertheless be given another opportunity this weekend to fully answer questions put to him. Most tellingly is that his attorney wrote the chairman that his client intends to invoke the Fifth Amendment at the hearing. Nothing to hide? Not much! Clark advocated involving the Department of Justice in delaying the certification of Electoral College votes, and drafted a letter to Georgia state officials asking that they investigate claims of fraudulent voting. It is a crime for an administrative official to attempt to influence the outcome of a federal election, 18 USC 595. Because of his intentionto invoke his privilege against self-incrimination, the House Rules Committee will hold a House floor vote to refer Clark to his former employer, DOJ, for criminal indictment in abeyance until after he testifies to the Select Committee this weekend.
Former Trump loyalist and chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has also played the delay game with the Committee. He has "engaged" the Committee in negotiations through his attorneys without complying with his subpoena. At one point he claimed he could not comply because of Trump's misplaced attempt to invoke executive privilege. His attorneys announced after Steve Bannon was indicted for contempt, that he will testify. Whether he will actually cooperate in the investigation remains to be seen. It is apparent that the Committee would like to have an insider cooperate so as to expose to the fullest possible extent the plotting that occurred. A complete picture would certainly expose the involvement of the former president in seditious conspiracy. Any criminal accountability for Individual One would require an insider to testify against him. Is Mark Meadows that man? Certainly his position as White House chief of staff puts him in a position to provide the granular detail. The leniency shown Meadows so far indicates he may be approachable. Two other former White House officials, Kash Patel and Dan Scavino have yet to comply with Committee subpoenas. Nevertheless Herr Trumpillini's cover up appears to be unraveling.
The House investigation has definitely taken a more serious turn. Even Committee co-chair Liz Cheney warned that any communications with the former chief executive will be under oath, and he will be held accountable for every false statement he makes, which is a serious problem for a sociopathic liar. Ms. Cheney also announced public hearings will take place early next year detailing "in vivid color" the events that culminated in the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Cheney was stripped of her GOP party leadership role after she refused to stop criticizing the ex-president for spreading the false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
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credit: J. Pett
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