CNN Reports Mark Meadows Complied With Department of Justice Subpoena as DOJ Goes ‘Gun Blazing’ on Jan. 6 Investigation
Mark Meadows has complied with a subpoena served to him by the Department of Justice, CNN reported Wednesday night.
Meadows served as former President Donald Trump’s last chief of staff. In the waning days of Trump’s presidency on Jan. 6, 2021, a mob stormed the Capitol to stop certification of the 2020 election Trump falsely claimed was rigged against him. That event has prompted investigations by both the DOJ and Congress.
“He’s complied with a subpoena from the Justice Department as part of the January 6th investigation,” CNN’s Evan Perez reported on Don Lemon Tonight. Now, this makes him the highest-ranking Trump official to comply with a subpoena as part of this criminal investigation.”
Earlier this year, Meadows provided a trove of materials to the House select committee investigating the riot. Perez reported Meadows gave the DOJ all the materials he had given the Jan. 6 committee. DOJ and the committee are trying to ascertain what role Meadows and other members of Trump’s orbit played in attempting to overturn the election.
After Trump’s loss, he and some of his aides and confidantes launched pressure campaigns on officials in Republican-controlled states Trump lost. One scheme developed by DOJ official John Eastman sought to solicit alternate slates of electors that would vote for Trump.
“And what exactly will they be looking for – do you know when they look at these new materials?” Don Lemon asked.
“One of the things they want is to get an idea of everything that Donald Trump was doing in that period,” Perez replied, referring to the time between the election and the end of his presidency. “Mark Meadows was involved in a lot of communications with officials trying to push this idea that there was evidence of vote fraud, things to support the former president’s claim that the election was stolen from him.”
Perez went on to say the DOJ appears to be “trying to connect the dots” on the scheme to try to keep Trump in power.
“We’ve heard from the Justice Department that this is the largest investigation in the department’s history,” Perez continued. “And what you get a sense of from the number of subpoenas that have gone out and of course, reaching up to the very, very top of the White House, you can’t get closer than the former chief of staff and former president. It tells you that they are going all guns blazing to try to figure out whether there are any charges to be brought here against everyone who might have been involved in the effort to overturn the election.”
Though Meadows turned over documents to the Jan. 6 committee, he ultimately stopped cooperating. That prompted Congress to issue a subpoena, with which Meadows did not comply. Congress voted in favor of a criminal referral for contempt of Congress to the DOJ in response. However, the department declined to charge him.
Watch above via CNN.
