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Meadows had previously disregarded an initial summons from the committee (archive image)
Photo: Patrick Semansky / AP
The former chief of staff of ex-US President Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, does not want to work with the House of Representatives' committee of inquiry into the storming of the Capitol in January.
The panel announced in Washington that Meadows had informed the committee of this decision.
Committee chairman Bennie Thompson and his deputy Liz Cheney criticized the fact that Meadows did provide details of the January 6 attack in the book he is currently promoting.
Meadows had previously disregarded an initial summons from the panel, whereupon Thompson threatened him with criminal action.
At the end of November, Meadows had finally submitted documents to the committee and announced that he would appear for an interview.
Now he made another U-turn.
Democrat Thompson and Republican Cheney stressed that the panel is sticking to the Wednesday deadline for an interview with Meadows.
Should this actually not appear, the committee would have no choice but to initiate criminal proceedings against him.
It would then be the responsibility of the Justice Department to decide whether or not to charge Meadows.
The same fate has befallen Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.
After the latter refused to cooperate with Congress in the investigation, the House of Representatives paved the way for criminal action with a majority of Democrats in late October.
The 67-year-old was then charged with disregard for Congress in two cases and now has to answer in court.
Bannon invokes the prerogative of US presidents to withhold certain information from Congress or the courts - the so-called executive privilege.
Meadows made the same argument.
kim / dpa / Reuters
