U.S. House Jan.6 probe tells Meadows it has 'no choice' but to seek contempt charge

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack told Mark Meadows, who served as ex-President Donald Trump's chief of staff, that it had "no choice" but to seek a contempt charge after he refused to cooperate.

Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House of Representatives Select Committee, said in a letter to Meadows' attorney, George Terwilliger, that Meadows - a former House member - had failed to cooperate with the panel.

"The Select Committee is left with no choice but

to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution," Thompson wrote in the letter.

The panel said on Tuesday Meadows had decided not to cooperate and that it was prepared to pursue contempt charges against him for failing to comply with its requests for information.

He would be the third associate of Trump to face possible contempt proceedings, after Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone and Angus MacSwan)