It was earlier this year when we learned that special counsel Jack Smith, as part of his criminal investigations into Donald Trump, was starting to issue grand jury subpoenas to some highly prominent figures, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Not surprisingly, this led to a fight over executive privilege.
That fight failed, and as The New York Times reported overnight, Meadows has sat down with federal investigators.
Mark Meadows, the final White House chief of staff under President Donald J. Trump and a potentially key figure in inquiries related to Mr. Trump, has testified before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the investigations being led by the special counsel’s office, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mr. Meadows is a figure in both of the two distinct lines of inquiry being pursued by the special counsel appointed to oversee the Justice Department’s scrutiny of Mr. Trump, Jack Smith.
That second point was of particular interest. Trump is, after all, facing two distinct criminal investigations from the special counsel’s office: One related to the former president’s classified documents scandal, and another related to the Jan. 6 attack and the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. His former White House chief of staff has insights into both probes.
That said, it’s not yet clear whether Meadows testified in both investigations. ABC News reported that he “answered questions on both Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents,” but that detail hasn’t been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, and I haven’t seen it confirmed elsewhere.
Nevertheless, what matters most to Team Trump is the fact that the former White House chief of staff is a uniquely important figure who had a front-row seat to all kinds of alleged wrongdoing. Indeed, circling back to our earlier coverage, Meadows is among the most important witnesses of all.
It was Meadows who was with Trump in the Oval Office during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. It was Meadows who was involved in the fake electors scheme. It was Meadows who was in frequent communication with far-right GOP lawmakers about efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It was Meadows who allegedly — and quite literally — set fire to documents in a White House fireplace, several times, after having important post-election meetings. It was Meadows who reportedly told Cassidy Hutchinson, one of his top aides, that “things might get real, real bad” on Jan. 6. It was also Meadows who, as the Times’ report added, was one of Trump’s representatives to the National Archives, and “he had some role in trying to discuss” the classified documents matter with the former president. And now, if the latest reporting is correct, it’s Meadows who’s spoken to federal prosecutors under oath. Watch this space. This post updates our previous related coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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