Here’s what ‘insurrection,’ ‘coup’ and ‘sedition’ mean
Meadows is one of several Trump allies and rally organizers who have been subpoenaed in recent weeks, and he alleges that the subpoenas are “overly broad and unduly burdensome.” He also claims that the committee “lacks lawful authority to seek and to obtain” the information requested.
Meadows previously turned over around 6,000 pages of documents to the committee, including emails from his personal account.
Here’s a breakdown of what those terms mean.
Insurrection
The words “insurrection” and “insurrectionists” have been widely used by news outlets and others to define the storming of the Capitol building and the rioters involved.
Sedition
Similar to insurrection, the act of sedition is also a crime under the US Code, which characterizes it as two or more people who conspire to overthrow the US government, or “prevent, hinder, or delay the execution” of US law by force. It’s punishable by a fine and up to 20 years in prison.
Former Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin, who oversaw the Capitol riot cases until March, previously said that he gave his prosecutors at the time “marching orders” to pursue significant sedition and conspiracy cases related to the attack.
Coup
Some have described the event as a “failed” or “attempted” coup, since apparent efforts to overturn the presidential election have been unsuccessful.
“We must call today’s violence what it actually is: a failed attempt at a coup,” then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, wrote in a statement earlier this year.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the impeachment hearings against Trump, previously told CNN’s Anderson Cooper he thought the events at the Capitol could be categorized as a “failed coup.”
CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Katelyn Polantz and Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.