Why Mark Meadows’ immunity deal is bad news for Trump: legal expert

26 October 2023

CNN, on October 25, reported that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows "has…. not been offered a plea deal" in Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis' election interference case against former President Donald Trump. But in a separate election-related case — Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal Trump prosecution — Meadows, according to ABC News, has been offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation.

Legal expert Kimberly Wehle, a University of Baltimore law professor and former federal prosecutor, analyzes Meadows' agreement with Smith's office in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on October 26.

Wehle explains, "Meadows' cooperation is significant for a number of reasons, including that he was at the heart of everything related to the Trump 'Stop the Steal' effort, including the pressure campaign on Vice President Mike Pence and the fake electors scheme in several states…. Let's not forget, too, that Meadows' own chief of staff, Cassidy Hutchinson, told the House January 6th Committee that Meadows burned documents in his office fireplace at least a dozen times between December 2020 and mid-January 2021. She also said he told staffers to keep certain Oval Office meetings a 'close hold' — meaning off the books."

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Meadows, according to Wehle, is "positioned to corroborate the astonishing testimony of credible witnesses like Hutchinson" and can also "speak firsthand as to Trump's knowledge and state of mind in all of this."

The former federal prosecutor notes, "Meadows is still in hot water in Georgia, having lost his bid to remove his portion of the racketeering case to federal court, and is undoubtedly pondering how to proceed now that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has secured a cascade of pleas…. It's not looking good for Trump in either case — and that's not even getting to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents indictment pending in federal court in Florida, the civil fraud trial now underway in Manhattan that will decide the fate of his business empire, and the New York criminal complaint that initiated the historic wave of 'first' indictments against a former president."

Read Kimberly Wehle's full article for The Bulwark at this link.

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