Rep. Liz Cheney read text messages she said Mark Meadows got during the Jan. 6 siege

Prior to a unanimous vote to refer Mark Meadows for contempt of Congress charges, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the ranking Republican on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, read a series of text messages she said Meadows received during the Capitol attack.

In the messages, several figures, including Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, urge Meadows to get then-President Donald Trump to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol.

Cheney said Meadows, who was Trump's White House chief of staff during the siege, turned over the materials before he stopped cooperating with the panel.

Her full remarks, as well as the remarks of the committee chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., are below:

Cheney's remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We are here to address a very serious matter, contempt of Congress by a former Chief of Staff to a former President of the United States. We do not do this lightly. And indeed, we had hoped not to take this step at all. For weeks, we worked with Mr. Meadows' counsel to reach an agreement on cooperation. But shortly before his scheduled deposition, Mr. Meadows walked away from his commitment to appear, and informed