White House official allegedly said National Guard troops would protect Trump supporters Jan. 6

A report out Sunday that recommends that Trump administration Chief of Staff Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress alleges he said National Guard troops would keep the president’s supporters safe Jan. 6.

An alleged Jan. 5 email by Meadows regarding the security of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who would hit the streets the next day was one of the report’s bullet points regarding urgent questions for Meadows from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The recipient of the email was not identified in the report.

“Mr. Meadows sent an email to an individual about the events on January 6 and said that the National Guard would be present to ‘protect pro Trump people’ and that many more would be available on standby,” it said.

An attorney for Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The claim adds a different angle to the government response to the Jan. 6 violence. Despite widespread forecasts of potential unrest, Capitol police appeared to be overwhelmed by the incursion, and the U.S. National Guard was slow to respond.

The report was released to support a resolution to hold Meadows in contempt. A simple majority of the House could produce a contempt of Congress citation against Meadows that would be referred to the Justice Department.

A former top adviser to President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, was indicted by a federal grand jury in November on two allegations of contempt of Congress — one for refusing to appear for a deposition and another for declining to produce documents requested by the same committee.

Bannon pleaded not guilty to both counts.

Both Meadows and Bannon have both claimed they are exempt from the law because they have executive privilege, the doctrine that seeks to protect certain communication with the president of the United States in order to allow White House leadership to freely lead and respond to crisis. Bannon left the White House in 2017 but maintained a relationship with Trump.

“The Select Committee is confident that there is no conceivable immunity or executive privilege claim that could bar all of the Select Committee’s requests or justify Mr. Meadows’s blanket refusal to appear for the required deposition,” the report said.

Meadows has twice failed to show up for scheduled depositions before committee investigators this fall, despite producing documents that would be a part of that testimony, the report said. Other documents, it said, might have been misplaced.

“It appears that Mr. Meadows may not have complied with legal requirements to retain or archive documents under the Presidential Records Act,” the report states.

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is trying to find out if high-level political organization was behind the violence, during which Trump supporters stormed the hallowed chambers as they sought to thwart congressional certification of the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden.

The panel has said previously that Meadows allegedly has knowledge of Trump’s activities Jan. 6 and appeared to have lines of communication with organizers of a Jan. 6 rally near the Capitol.

“Mr. Meadows was in contact with at least some of the private individuals who planned and organized a January 6 rally, one of whom reportedly may have expressed safety concerns toMr. Meadows about January 6 events,” the report states.

Meadows received a text from an organizer of the Washington, D.C. Ellipse rally, apparently as people moved toward the Capitol, seeking seeking direction after things “had gotten crazy,” according the report’s quote of the communication.

The report also indicates that the committee believes that Meadows may know significant information about Trump’s request to Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” a precise number of votes that would overturn his loss there.

source: nbcnews.com