US lawmakers investigating the January Capitol riot say they will hold former Trump chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in criminal contempt.
The House Select Committee said it had “no choice” but to seek charges over his refusal to comply with its inquiry.
Meadows had previously provided the bipartisan panel with information, but last week said he would not cooperate.
On Wednesday, he sued the committee members, seeking to nullify subpoenas they issued.
According to the suit “overly broad and unduly burdensome” subpoenas sent to Meadows violate legal protections for senior advisors to a president, and charge the committee with using excessively broad subpoenas to obtain the phone records.
Meadows will be the third ex-Trump aide to be held in contempt by the panel.
In a letter sent to Meadows on Tuesday, chairman of the committee Bennie G Thompson objected Meadows’ argument that the information lawmakers wanted from him was protected by executive privilege – a legal principle that protects many White House communications from being shared.
“There is no legitimate legal basis for Mr Meadows to refuse to cooperate with the Select Committee,” wrote Thompson, who is a Democratic representative for Mississippi.
Meadows had initially said he would appear before the House panel this week, and had already provided the committee with some 6,000 pages worth of documents, including messages from his personal phone.
