Promised immunity?
Trump’s former chief of staff is probably cooperating with special investigators
October 25, 2023, 11:28 a.m
A few months before the trial against former President Trump for influencing the 2020 presidential election, special investigator Jack Smith secured a statement under oath from one of his inner circle, according to US reports. Former chief of staff Mark Meadows is said to have already made incriminating statements.
Former US President Donald Trump is coming under increasing pressure from former associates who are cooperating with the judiciary in proceedings against him. The US television station ABC reports that Trump’s former chief of staff in the White House, Mark Meadows, spoke several times with the team of special investigator Jack Smith – in the federal case against Trump for influencing the 2020 presidential election. Meadows also testified before a jury, a so-called grand jury . In return for testifying under oath, he was promised immunity in the case.
Meadows informed federal investigators that he repeatedly told Trump in the weeks after the election that his claims of large-scale voter fraud were unfounded. According to the report, Meadows also alleged that Trump was “dishonest” with the public in his claims that he won the election. “We obviously didn’t win,” Meadows is said to have said when questioned by Smith’s team, according to an unnamed source.
Incriminating statements of this kind could potentially harm Trump in the trial, which is scheduled to begin in March 2024. Trump is the first ex-president in US history to face trial for alleged crimes. Federal charges were brought against him in Washington for his efforts to subsequently overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Trump lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden, but he still does not admit his defeat to this day. Instead, Trump tried in various ways to later change the election result. His campaign against the election outcome culminated in an unprecedented, violent attack by his supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In the state of Georgia, charges of attempted election interference were also brought against Trump and 18 other defendants. Meadows is also among the accused. He pleaded not guilty, like Trump. In the case in Georgia, four co-defendants and former supporters of Trump recently entered into an agreement with the public prosecutor there: They pleaded guilty in order to avert a trial. This means that in the future they could testify against co-defendants and therefore also against Trump. This is a great success for the public prosecutor’s office.