‘This Was a Rough Day For Mark Meadows’: Elie Honig Reacts To Ex-Trump Chief of Staff Taking the Stand

Mark Meadows, who served as former President Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, took the witness on Monday while trying to move the criminal case against him to federal court.

Like his former boss, Meadows surrendered at Fulton County Jail last week after a Georgia grand jury indicted him for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Attorneys for Meadows are seeking to move the case to federal court by arguing that his’ post-election actions fell within the scope of his duties as a federal official. If his attorneys succeed, they will likely argue in federal court that he is immune from the counts he faces.

Meadows took the stand on Monday, during which time he cast his duties in expansive terms.

CNN’s chief legal analyst Elie Honig offered his take on Monday’s edition of The Situation Room.

“What did you make of Mark Meadows taking the stand?” guest host Alex Marquardt asked. “Was that wise?”

“It was a big risk,” Honig replied. “Pretty much the last place any criminal defendant wants to end up is in the witness stand. But it was also necessary because Mark Meadows is the one who has to make a showing here that he was acting within the scope of his federal employment. There’s really no other plausible way to do that.”

Honig said the gambit indicates that Meadows thinks it is crucial that his case is moved to federal court.

“I do think this was a rough day for Mark Meadows,” he continued. “I think it’s one thing to assert generally, ‘Well, as chief of staff I had broad duties.’ But it’s another thing to be cross-examined as he was today about very specific actions and phone calls and to sort of justify that within the scope of the chief of staff’s job.”

Watch above via CNN.

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