ATLANTA — The recent steps of Mark Meadows remain a mystery to lawyers and political allies surrounding Donald Trump these days.
The former president sent them on a small fact-finding mission to dig up what they could on the old aide. It was a failure, leaving them only able to repeat rumors to Trump, a source told Rolling Stone.
There have been whispers. A lawyer for Meadows last month shot down rumors that the former aide reached an immunity deal with federal prosecutors.
The concerns are understandable. Meadows was there for most of 2020.
The North Carolina Republican resigned from Congress to become Donald Trump’s chief aide roughly eight months before the election, and Meadows was by the president’s side as he disputed his defeat to Joe Biden in key battleground states.
Meadows was on the line for the infamous Brad Raffensperger phone call. There were emails, meetings, and even a surprise visit to Georgia — made all for the benefit of his boss.
More than two-and-a-half years later, Meadows could face criminal charges for that loyalty.
Meadows is one of several people in Trump’s orbit who could be indicted in Fulton County for criminally interfering in Georgia’s 2020 election. Meadows was a key figure in post-election planning as Trump and allies worked to keep a hold on the presidency.
Who is Mark Meadows?
As Trump inched towards the Republican nomination in the 2016 election, Meadows issued warnings, Politico reports. Trump, he said, was a threat to the party, the country, and the Constitution.
By that time, the congressman developed a reputation as a calculating player in Washington. Meadows got his first taste of politics as chair of the Macon County Republican Party before later running in the 2012 North Carolina 11th Congressional District race.
The district, previously represented by Democrat Heath Shuler, was drawn to be more favorable to the GOP. Meadows won the Republican nomination in a runoff, and he got nearly 58% of the vote in the general election
A founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, Meadows was known for his ultraconservative voting record — and for playing both sides.
Soon after joining the House, Meadows cast a vote against Speaker John Boehner’s reelection. The efforts of the freedom caucus failed, and Meadows requested a meeting with the speaker, according to Boehner’s 2021 memoir.
In Boehner’s office, Meadows slid off the couch and got on his knees, asking for forgiveness. Boehner spared him.
“I knew he was carrying a backpack full of knives — and sooner or later he’d try to cut me again with them. Which, of course, he did,” Boehner said.
That last cut came in July 2015 when Meadows filed a resolution to oust Boehner as speaker. Boehner stepped down and resigned from Congress a few months later as discord within the party mounted.
Trump wasn’t Meadows’ first choice in 2016, but the man found something endearing about the real estate mogul turned reality star turned politician.
“You know the funny thing? Donald Trump is actually a lot like me,” Meadows told Politico. “He’s going to tell you the truth, whether you like it or not.”
After the GOP convention and a Trump visit to North Carolina, Meadows warmed to the man. He became a fixture on the campaign plane, and Meadows would hold up his phone around friends to show that Trump was calling him.
Meadows called Trump so often, in fact, that the then-congressman claimed to be 14 on the White House switchboard’s list of approved callers to be put through to the president, the New Yorker reports.
By late 2018, Meadows claimed to have moved up the list to seven on the call, and he had eyes on Trump’s chief of staff position with John Kelly's departure looming.
It took until March 2020 for Meadows to get the job, and he arrived at the White House during a tumultuous period. Meadows would be by the president’s side in the aftermath of the election.
What did Meadows do in Georgia?
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office outlined Meadows’ alleged role in court filings. Prosecutors were seeking the Trump aide’s testimony in front of a special purpose grand jury.
Prosecutors were interested in Meadows’ involvement in several events following the 2020 election.
Meadows attended a Dec. 21, 2021, White House meeting with Trump, members of Congress, and others regarding “allegations of voter fraud and the certification of electoral college votes from Georgia and other states,” according to court filings.
A day later, Meadows made a surprise visit to the Cobb County Civic Center where the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office were conducting an audit of absentee ballot signatures.
Meadows arrived with Secret Service agents. He allegedly asked questions and attempted to personally view the audit. However, Meadows was prevented from doing so, according to court filings.
Meadows also facilitated a Dec. 23 phone call with Trump and Secretary of State investigator Frances Watson. Watson was overseeing the Cobb audit at the time.
On the call, Trump urged Watson to find “dishonesty.” The president also claimed he won the state, and he made specific allegations about alleged fraud in Fulton County.
Text messages obtained by the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack show that Meadows also wanted to give Georgia election investigators "a sh**load of POTUS stuff.” White House staff prevented this from happening.
Meadows’ role in the Watson call and his attempts to give away Trump memorabilia are not mentioned in the Fulton County court documents.
The then-chief of staff also sent e-mails to United States Department of Justice officials, making allegations about voter fraud in Georgia and other states from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1. Meadows requested the agency investigate the accusations, according to emails released by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Meadows was also part of the call that started the Fulton County probe — the conversation between Trump and Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021. The former president asked Georgia’s top election officials to “find” the votes to undo Biden’s victory.
Meadows was the first to speak on the roughly one-hour call on which Trump made unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
Now, the question is: will Meadows turn on Trump? Will he cut his former boss?
Meadows initially cooperated with the Jan. 6 House committee before changing his mind. He also testified to a federal grand jury as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s probe of Trump, CNN reports.
When it comes to the Fulton County investigation, Meadows allegedly said little.
After back and forth in various courts, he was ordered to testify. The jury’s foreperson, Emily Kohrs, told CNN earlier this year Meadows invoked the Fifth Amendment when she asked if he had a Twitter account.
Potential indictments of Trump and allies will come between mid-July and the start of September. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has hinted that charging decisions will likely come in early to mid-August.