One in every of two Republicans on the Home committee investigating the January 6 assault on the Capitol mentioned Sunday he is "not satisfied" that the panel has obtained all related materials it has requested from Mark Meadows, former President Donald Trump's chief of employees.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican of Illinois, advised "Face the Nation" that he's "not assured that Meadows has handed over every thing in any respect."
"He was cooperating with us for a bit bit, after which, in an try to make Donald Trump completely happy, he stops cooperating," Kinzinger mentioned. "We gave him loads of area to return again and resume that. He has not."
Kinzinger's feedback come days after the emergence of a collection of textual content messages between Meadows and Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the spouse of Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas. The messages present Thomas repeatedly urging Meadows and the White Home to struggle to overturn the election leads to the weeks earlier than President Biden's inauguration.
In December, the committee voted to advocate contempt expenses in opposition to Meadows for failing to adjust to its subpoena. The case is now within the palms of the Division of Justice.
Final Thursday, CBS Information chief election and marketing campaign correspondent Robert Costa and Bob Woodward of The Washington Publish obtained a number of textual content messages between Meadows and Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist who aggressively lobbied the Trump administration to attempt to overturn President Biden's election win in 2020.
The beautiful messages, which had been amongst greater than 2,000 that Meadows supplied to the January 6 panel, reveal a pipeline between Thomas and then-President Donald Trump's prime aide at a time when Trump was vowing to take his claims of election fraud to the Supreme Courtroom.
Kinzinger mentioned he couldn't verify or deny the existence of the texts due to his function as a member of the committee. He additionally wouldn't say whether or not the panel plans to subpoena Thomas. Sources near the investigation advised CBS Information final week that a number of members of the committee do need discuss to her and will challenge a subpoena if obligatory.
"I will let you know that we have now 1000's of textual content messages from numerous individuals," Kinzinger mentioned. "We've got lots of paperwork, and we're going to, in a methodical, fact-driven manner, get to the solutions right here. We'll name in whoever we have to name in. We wish to guarantee that this is not pushed by a political motivation — it's pushed by info. So with regards to any potential future calling in of Ms. Thomas, we'll check out what the proof is and we'll decide."
Costa and Woodward, who mentioned their reporting on "Face the Nation" Sunday, mentioned some members of the committee are pissed off that the textual content messages between Meadow and Thomas that they've finish in late November.
"The place are the textual content messages, if any, from December or round January 6?" Costa mentioned.
Nevertheless, the messages the committee has obtained to date do present "a highway map of kinds" for a few of Meadows' actions after the election, Costa mentioned. The panel has additionally completed tons of of interviews and obtained 1000's of pages of paperwork from totally different people who find themselves cooperating with the investigation.
"However they nonetheless really feel in some ways they don't have sufficient," Costa mentioned.
Woodward, who helped uncover the Watergate scandal, mentioned it was "virtually unbelievable" that the spouse of a sitting Supreme Courtroom justice was urging the White Home chief of employees to not concede a respectable election. The textual content messages additionally present Thomas describing Biden's win as "the best Heist of our Historical past."
Kinzinger, a vocal Trump critic, mentioned the January 6 panel is dedicated to uncovering the reality and presenting it to the American individuals.
"We aren't, as a committee, out to throw individuals in jail," he mentioned, although he famous that there could possibly be extra felony referrals.
"The underside line for the committee is that this: Was there an effort to overturn the respectable election of the USA, what was January 6 in relation to that, and what's the rot in our system that led to that and does it nonetheless exist at this time?" he mentioned.