Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was not at Thursday’s latest hearing by the Jan. 6 committee hearing. But his presence loomed as witnesses reconstructed the events leading up to and on the day that supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol.
Meadows, a former Republican congressman from western North Carolina, may have been absent from the hearing room, but the testimony aired there put him in the thick of the tumult of Jan. 6, 2021, and the failed plot to overturn the election. As others called on him to intervene with the president that day, he apparently did nothing to stop Trump. Instead, Trump used Twitter to stir a mob against Vice President Mike Pence because he would not block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Meadows’ aide Ben Williamson said in video testimony played during the hearing that when Meadows learned that the Capitol protest had turned violent, the chief of staff spoke with Trump. White House staffers thought he would get Trump to call off the violent protesters with a tweet.
