On Monday, Los Angeles Times legal analyst Harry Litman explained that it appears former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is “up to his neck” in two possible federal crimes.
But former Watergate attorney Jill Wine-Banks said on MSNBC later in the day that such crimes could be the reason that the Justice Department isn’t acting on the contempt of Congress charge.
“I think that some of what we have seen in the last few days may explain why the Department of Justice has not yet indicted Mark Meadows for contempt, and it may be because these documents show him to be an active participant in a coup,” said Wine-Banks. “And maybe they are looking at him more seriously for a substantive part and for obstructing Congress. I think he could be guilty of both and that it is very important to work between the Congress and the prosecutors to make sure of that.”
She went on to explain that Congress wouldn’t give any kind of immunity to Meadows if the DOJ wants to indict him.
“Where Congress says, we really need his testimony — their role is very different,” Wine-Banks continued. “They have to pass laws that will protect us from anything like this happening again. They must do that because this, as you have said, is as close to losing democracy as I hope we ever come. So, I want them to pass the laws. But they can do it without his testimony if he is about to be indicted for a crime.”
See the panel discussion below: