Former President Donald Trump’s ex-Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, is under scrutiny for his actions during the deadly failed insurrection against the U.S. Capitol on January 6 of this year.
Though Meadows ceased cooperating with the committee’s subpoena this week, he’d already turned over thousands of pages of documents. Since then, it’s come to light that Meadows sent an email with an attached PowerPoint detailing unconstitutional ways for the Trump administration to bypass Trump’s 2020 election loss. If that wasn’t enough, multiple Fox News hosts—as well as Donald Trump Jr.—sent multiple texts to Meadows as the riot unfolded, imploring him to sway Trump to tell the rioters to vacate the Capitol.
Before Meadows began working for the White House, he was a U.S. representative for North Carolina’s 11th district, often going viral for railing against House Democrats’ first impeachment inquiry against Trump.
In light of recent events, a leading paper from Meadows’ home state just published a scathing editorial decrying his role in the insurrection and his subsequent bulwark against the oversight duties of the body he used to serve.
Calling Meadows a “disgrace during a dangerous hour for U.S. democracy” the editorial board of the News and Observer wrote:
When will the N.C. Republican Party censure Mark Meadows? The answer, of course, is never. But that won’t hide the embarrassment that Meadows is for his party or for the state he represented in Congress for seven years.
It continued:
"For North Carolina, Meadows is more than a figure in a Washington drama. He is the embodiment of how the state's turn to extreme gerrymandering has opened the way for reactionary and incompetent candidates to represent the state in Congress."
Even those who weren’t North Carolinians had to agree.
Anyone defending Mark Meadows and the cult of the Republican have absolutely no credibility. So just keep “Rule of Law,” BLM, CRT and any other cult talking point out of your mouth. His actions are beyond an embarrassment. No exception—a criminal is a criminal and hate is hate.
— Imperfect Justice 🙏🏿⚖️🏛 (@ImperfectJustUs) December 15, 2021
Mark Meadows should face charges for stonewalling Congress | Raleigh News & Observer https://t.co/P05JYWAC1m
— Taking Action 4 US (@takingaction4us) December 15, 2021
Yes. And @RepCawthorn too. #Seditionist #Traitors #RINOs https://t.co/XC7XPwxKCT
— Blockchain Cheerleader (@704Original) December 15, 2021
The ultimate panderer Mark Meadows is an embarrassment to NC. Congress should take a hard line with him. #Jan6thCommittee https://t.co/ZEq7Xzeeg0
— Fred Thomas, III (@thomas3reports) December 15, 2021
Meadows has been thrust into the center of discussions surrounding the committee's work.
Last week, Mark Meadows informed @January6thCmte he would not cooperate further – abandoning his duty to country.
Tonight, the House voted him in contempt and referred him for criminal prosecution.
We acted with urgency.
The Justice Department must do the same.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 15, 2021
Mark Meadows' emails are actually everything trump and his people claim Hillary's emails were.
— Covie (@covie_93) December 13, 2021
DOJ should indict Mark Meadows immediately.
Get it done in ‘21.
— Chris Hahn (@ChristopherHahn) December 15, 2021
This is true, but the big surprise is how much evidence there is that @MarkMeadows is a guilty actor in all this. Besides knowing what the President knew and when he knew it, @MarkMeadows knows what he did. https://t.co/mQhE5GNwfD
— Jill Wine-Banks (@JillWineBanks) December 15, 2021
In addition to Fox News hosts, Meadows was also corresponding with multiple lawmakers whose names have yet to be revealed.