Texts with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that were previously provided to the House panel investigating January 6 and later obtained by the media outlet Talking Points Memo outline multiple plans of action from Rudy Giuliani after the 2020 election, about which at least some in Trump’s circles were seriously concerned.
Giuliani obviously still saw at least some success in getting his message out, leading to defamation litigation against him and helping inspire the attack on the Capitol, but the texts with Meadows show past Trump adviser Jason Miller repeatedly trying to curtail some of Giuliani’s efforts, including a press release featuring allegations about equipment from the election technology company Dominion Voting Systems.
At that point, Miller wanted input from Meadows, asking in part: “This would be the first time shooting down a Rudy press release request, so I wanted to get your take on this as well.” Miller said “Eric” — potentially referencing White House advisor Eric Herschmann — was concerned about the contents of the planned release and expressed support for Eric’s perspective. This sort of concern could point to actionable awareness held by key figures around the former president of potentially serious legal issues inherent in moving forward with what Rudy was doing.
At another juncture, Miller expressed worries to Meadows about a document originating with the former mayor he called a “draft GA legislature petition,” which could refer either to a draft of action for legislators in that state to take or a draft of a push to those legislators for intervention. “Chief – need your advice here. Rudy sent me this draft GA legislature petition this evening and asked me to put together a release for Sunday morning blast out, but you’ve made clear who is running our GA efforts,” Miller said. Besides further filling out the contours of what Giuliani was doing after the last presidential race, these messages also suggest he could have been made aware of further concern about his work — although he continued, in defiance of worries about the consequences: legal or otherwise.
Several other messages referencing or connected to Giuliani in the texts to and from Meadows involve payment. Bernard Kerik, a former police official in New York City and an ally to Rudy in the fight against the 2020 election outcome, asked Meadows in early December 2020 for support in obtaining accommodations in Michigan, and in another message, a conspiracy theory-pushing associate of Rudy reported to be his girlfriend — Maria Ryan — also brought up payment, telling the then-White House official she “was instructed to speak to you about Payment for Mr. Giuliani’s legal services” and asking for a call. Although available records don’t completely depict all of Meadows’s communications from that period, no direct response to that message was reported.
“Frigging Rudy needs to hush…” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told Meadows in another message. Giuliani is also facing multiple additional fronts of problems, including a newly revealed conclusion from a D.C. committee that he likely violated at least one rule for lawyers in D.C. — after which the disciplinary counsel’s team is tentatively set to present specific recommendations for consequences, something that could include disbarment. The Court of Appeals in D.C. would be the final say on imposing consequences.
