Get ready for Trump to denounce yet another hand-picked White House appointee of his:
While a step in the right direction, a more detailed report from CNN stated
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/30/politics/mark-meadows-january-6-committee/index.html
Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger said in a statement to CNN that there is now an understanding between the two parties on how information can be exchanged moving forward, stating that his client and the committee are open to engaging on a certain set of topics as they work out how to deal with information that the committee is seeking that could fall under executive privilege.
But the agreement could be fragile if the two sides do not agree on what is privileged information. News of the understanding comes as Trump’s lawyers argued in front of a federal appeals court in Washington that the former President should be able to assert executive privilege over records from the committee.
So I suspect Meadows is trying to have it both ways. Cooperate just enough to keep himself out of contempt, but will claim executive privilege on anything that will make the CFSG (or himself) look bad. And even as the appeal looks bad for His Orangeness, he’ll stall until the Supremes look at it.
Not that Trump will forgive him for even showing up, unless he literally shows up and repeats all the current variants of the Big Lie, No Jurisdiction, ETC without even a pro forma show of cooperation. Which he could do from the pulpit of social media if he wasn’t going to throw the House at least a bone.
It’s an interesting development, for sure.
Based on all available reporting, it’s my opinion that no single individual has as much potential criminal exposure for the schemes to overthrow the election as does Mark Meadows.
He conspired with DOJ attorney Jeffrey Clark in order to have the DOJ falsely claim to the state legislatures that the election was corrupt. The scheme included sending a letter that included an official DOJ recommendation that the state legislatures convene in emergency session to appoint a different slate of electors.
This is, IMHO, worthy of charges for seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
He was also instrumental in setting up the phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the call where Trump pressured him to “find” enough votes to flip the results.
Also the call where Trump complimented GA state attorney Ryan Germany on his last name. No one ever mentions that, but it never fails to crack me up.
Plus, there are multiple witnesses that can testify that he told them he knew the election wasn’t rigged and that Trump didn’t legitimately win.
Here’s a rundown of his misdeeds.
That said, I’m surprised he’s making noises that make it look like he might be cooperating. He might just go in and plead the 5th, or plead executive privilege, to everything. As Trump’s Chief of Staff, he has a way stronger claim to privilege than Steve Bannon, so I expect him to basically be non-responsive.
Unless he’s decided he’s next up under the bus, and needs to do some preemptive damage control.
Perhaps he’s become a little nervous about how history will treat him.
His name could end up being an Eponym alongside Benedict Arnold and Quisling
He’s apparently just a whole lot smarter than the rest of the bunch. You cannot ignore a Congressional subpoena. Period. You can show up and claim privilege, but you cannot refuse to show up. So, he’s agreeing to the minimum, and either 1) flip on Trump to save himself (unlikely IMO) or 2) show up and claim privilege. We’ll learn nothing, but he’ll avoid contempt charges.
Meadows muffin?
I suspect you’re on-target with these speculations.
And as Meadows goes through these motions he can comfort himself with the prospect of the entire investigation being shut down in a matter of months.
(I’m not a fan of the constant media refrain that the GOP will inevitably take the House in November 2022, but looking at all the news of gerrymandering and red-state laws giving GOP officials the final word on who gets “elected,” I have to admit that it may be a reasonable prediction.)
At some point in the future, if not today, I expect some of the Trump people to pull out some pocket pardons that they got Trump to sign before leaving office.
At the moment, I don’t have a strong opinion on whether Meadows would have been smart enough to go for it but I would expect that anyone who did ask for one would recognize that they’d rather not get to a point where they need to rely on it.
Yep. I think he’ll just claim executive privilege for everything. And he may actually be justified in doing so. He’ll just sit there with a smug look on his face, answering nothing.
What happens after he shows up and claims privilege if the courts have already decided there is no privilege? Won’t he just be looking at contempt charges at that point?
Sergeant at arms takes direct custody.
I suspect that at that point he could/would plead the 5th. And probably with cause.
ETA - assuming he’s in there at the exact moment that the SCOTUS rules against Trump’s interpretation. Otherwise, he’d probably request a delay to reconsider his testimony in light of possible self-incrimination, IE plead the 5th anyway.
a) Until it goes to the Supreme Court, no decision has really been made.
b) “if”. At the moment, I don’t believe that any such decision has been made, even in the lower courts.
There was an interesting hearing earlier this week, but I don’t believe there’s a ruling yet.
I don’t think that pocket pardon’s would pass the “What’s in it for me” test that Trump imposes on all of his actions.
- If they are guilty enough to be convicted, pardoning them makes Trump look guilty by association
- A pardon from Trump would make it harder for Trump to throw them under the bus and pretend never to have heard of them.
- If he hasn’t given them a pardon by the time he’s been kicked out of office, that just provides them with extra motivation to make sure he’s reinstated.
If pardoned, a witness could be compelled to testify because they have no risk of self-incrimination. That’s why Trump would avoid giving them pardons.
Do you figure Trump signed one for himself?
More than a few checked in for the potential for laughter at his idiocy.
around 9,000 I would guess. About 100 would have been journalists. That leaves 64 sad muppets.