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JUST IN: House votes to refer Mark Meadows to Justice Department for contempt of Congress
From CNN's Zachary Cohen
Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, speaks to members of the media outside of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
The House voted to refer
former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to the Department of Justice on criminal charges for
failing to appear for a deposition with the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Today's House vote comes one day after the panel
unanimously voted in favor of holding Meadows in contempt of Congress.
Meadows is the latest official to face the possibility of such a referral from the panel. The committee approved a criminal contempt report against Trump ally Steve Bannon in October after he refused to comply with a subpoena deadline.
What happens next: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will need to
certify the report to the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.
Under law, this certification then requires the United States attorney to "bring the matter before the grand jury for its action," but the Justice Department will also makes its own determinations for prosecuting.
Any individual who is found liable for contempt of Congress is then guilty of a crime that may result in a fine and between one and 12 months imprisonment. But this process is rarely invoked and rarely leads to jail time.
CNN's Paul LeBlanc contributed reporting to this post. 
www.bbc.com
