NYT:

The House voted on Tuesday night to recommend holding Mark Meadows, who served as chief of staff to former President Donald J. Trump, in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with its investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, escalating a legal battle against a potentially crucial witness in a widening inquiry.

The vote of 222 to 208 sent the matter to the Justice Department to consider whether to prosecute Mr. Meadows, who would be the first former member of Congress to be held in contempt of the body he once served in nearly 200 years, according to congressional aides.

Two Republicans — Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who serve on the committee investigating the attack over the objections of their party — joined Democrats in voting to find him in contempt.

But while the action indicated a stalemate between Mr. Meadows and Congress, his initial cooperation with the inquiry — including around 9,000 pages of documents he turned over — has already given the committee its first substantial burst of momentum and political traction as it tries to establish a full accounting of the events that led to the deadly riot.

More revelations emerged on Tuesday before the vote, as Ms. Cheney, the vice chairwoman of the committee, read aloud text messages that Republicans in Congress sent to Mr. Meadows on Jan. 6 as violence engulfed the Capitol.

“It’s really bad up here on the hill,” one said.

“The President needs to stop this asap,” another implored.

“Fix this now,” another said.

The committee also divulged a Nov. 4 message from an unidentified Republican member of Congress to Mr. Meadows — before states were even finished counting ballots — proposing an “aggressive strategy” in which Republican-controlled legislatures in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other states would “just send their own electors” instead of potential Biden electors chosen by voters.

“How did this text influence the planning of Mark Meadows and Donald Trump to try to destroy the lawful Electoral College majority that had been established by the people of the United States and the states for Joe Biden?” said Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland and a member of the committee.