Mark Meadows to stop cooperating with the Jan. 6 panel

In an about face, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows will no longer cooperate with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The announcement from Meadow's attorney comes a week after Meadows said he would appear for an initial deposition and providing documents to the committee.

"We now must decline the opportunity to appear voluntarily for a deposition," Meadows' attorney George Terwilliger wrote to the committee in a letter obtained by NPR.

"Mr. Meadows has consistently sought in good faith to pursue an accommodation with the Select Committee and up until yesterday we believed that could be obtained," Terwilliger wrote, noting that Meadows agreed to cooperate and answer questions where he would not have to waive executive privilege. "We now have every indication from the information supplied to us last Friday ... that the Select Committee has no intention of respecting boundaries concerning Executive Privilege."

The Jan 6. committee has yet to comment on the letter.

Meadows was one of the first Trump administration officials subpoenaed by the committee in late September. His deposition was delayed as he engaged with the committee. However after Meadows missed a final deadline to appear, committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., issued a statement saying they would "consider pursuing contempt or other proceedings to enforce the subpoena."

Terwilliger has maintained the courts need to resolve the issue over executive privilege between Meadows and the panel.

NPR Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas contributed to this report. [Copyright 2021 NPR]