A member of Congress apologized to Mark Meadows for not overturning the election on January 6: 'I'm sorry nothing worked'

• A member of Congress texted Mark Meadows apologizing for not overturning the election on January 6.
• Rep. Adam Schiff read aloud the message in a hearing of the January 6 Select Committee.

A lawmaker texted former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows apologizing that Congress couldn't block Congress from overturning the 2020 election on January 6, Rep. Adam Schiff revealed during a meeting of the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection.

In the Monday evening hearing, the panel unanimously voted to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress after Meadows stopped cooperating with the committee and failed to show up for a scheduled deposition.

During the hearing, members of the panel excoriated Meadows for defying a subpoena for his testimony while writing about January 6 and the events leading up to it in his memoir, "The Chief's Chief."

Schiff and Rep. Liz Cheney also read aloud a series of panicked text messages that members of Congress, prominent Fox News hosts, and even Trump's own son, Donald Trump Jr., sent to Meadows pleading with him to do something to stop the violent siege on the Capitol and convince former President Donald Trump to make a statement condemning the riots.

"What did the president of the United States do, and what did he fail to do? Mr. Meadows doesn't think he should have to answer those questions. He thinks the American people should be left in the dark," Schiff said.

Schiff then read aloud the January 7 message from an unnamed member of Congress that said: "Yesterday was a terrible day. We tried everything we could in our objection to the 6 states. I'm sorry nothing worked."

"The day after a failed attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power through violence, an elected lawmaker tells the White House chief of staff 'I'm sorry nothing worked.' That is chilling," Schiff added. "We would like to ask Mr. Meadows what he thought about that."

Even though Meadows stopped cooperating, the panel is already in possession of valuable records, including text messages and emails that Meadows and his attorney voluntarily turned over to the committee. Meadows used a cellphone, two Gmail accounts, and a Signal account to conduct official White House business and communicate during January 6, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The committee's chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson previously revealed that Meadows sent emails as early as November 7, 2020, about a plot for Republican-controlled states to send "alternate" slates of presidential electors to Congress on January 6 and texted a member of Congress about the idea, saying, "I love it."

Thompson added that some of the emails included "a November 7, 2020, email discussing the appointment of alternate slates of electors as part of a 'direct and collateral attack' after the election; a January 5, 2021, email regarding a 38-page PowerPoint briefing titled 'Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN' that was to be provided 'on the hill'; and, among others, a January 5, 2021, email about having the National Guard on standby."

The committee is also in possession of text messages from Meadows' personal cellphone, which Thompson said include "a November 6, 2020, text exchange with a Member of Congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the Member acknowledged would be 'highly controversial' and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, 'I love it."