Although unlike with others it’s unclear if he’s testified yet, former Trump official Mark Meadows is now among the latest to face a subpoena in an investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, reports indicate. The subpoena demands both documents and testimony.
Other recent notable developments in Smith’s probes include revelations prosecutors have heard grand jury testimony from three of Trump’s lawyers, including Evan Corcoran, Christina Bobb, and Alina Habba. Corcoran and Bobb have been involved in handling Trump’s responses in the federal push for classified documents he retained after leaving office, while Habba has helped with Trump’s legal defense in matters including New York state Attorney General Letitia James’s civil probe of his business. In that matter, she at one point said she searched Mar-a-Lago as New York investigators sought a series of materials, and in doing so, Habba could have seen classified documents. As for Meadows, he resisted investigative efforts by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot and Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, although he was eventually compelled to testify in the latter probe, which could be nearing its end.
As the then-chief of staff in the White House, Meadows, who was supportive of Trump’s ambitions to stay in power despite his documented election loss to Joe Biden, is in a position to provide a lot of critical insight about what was happening inside the Trump administration as January 6 approached. Since the House panel never heard testimony from Meadows, there hasn’t been much of an opportunity to directly examine his personal perspective now that he’s out of power, but Smith could be seeking to establish the answers to questions like what Trump knew about the nature of his election loss. Leaders on the House panel repeatedly emphasized their idea Trump understood that he lost, which would implicate him in purposefully going against reality and the relevant provisions of the law in trying to stay in power anyway. Credible sources repeatedly informed Trump of the truth.
In Smith’s investigations, former Vice President Mike Pence has also received a subpoena, although it’s become evident he intends to resist that push in connection to claimed protections associated with the legislative responsibilities he had in the Congressional proceedings on January 6. Those protections, originating with the Constitution, ordinarily shield lawmakers from certain forms of law enforcement scrutiny for their official duties. The concept of executive privilege could also be used, potentially setting up a court dispute.
