Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has a book coming out about his experiences in the Trump White House -- and members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots think that it blows up his claims of executive privilege.
Politico reports that members of the committee believe that Meadows's book will make it difficult for him to maintain his stance that all of his conversations with former President Donald Trump fall under executive privilege.
"It's… very possible that by discussing the events of Jan. 6 in his book, if he does that, he's waiving any claim of privilege," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told Politico. "So, it'd be very difficult for him to maintain ‘I can't speak about events to you, but I can speak about them in my book.'"
Mark Rozell, a George Mason University professor and expert on executive privilege, shared Schiff's assessment that Meadows's book could hinder his ability to claim blanket executive privilege.
"Executive privilege covers information vital to the national interest to protect, as well as the privacy of some internal White House deliberations," he said. "If the same information is made public, there can be no valid claim to a right to withhold it from Congress."
Rozell added that "it is hard to imagine a stronger measure of contempt for Congress' authority than to refuse to cooperate with an investigation but being willing to present the requested information in the public domain to sell books."
- Lawmaker highlights the hypocrisy in Mark Meadows' decision to withhold information about the Jan. 6 insurrection - Alternet.org ›
- Watch live: Jan. 6 Committee votes on holding Mark Meadows in contempt - Alternet.org ›
- 'Strict voting rules for thee, but not for me': Editorial board rips Mark Meadows over voter fraud hypocrisy - Alternet.org ›