AP Photo/Charles Krupa
Special Counsel Jack Smith accused former President Donald Trump in a Wednesday night court filing of attempting to “send an unmistakable and threatening message” to Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff, in his DC election interference case.
ABC News reported on Smith’s filing after Trump slimed Meadows on Truth Social after the outlet reported he had received immunity to testify in the case. Politico’s Kyle Cheney read through the 32-page filing from Smith, which asks U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to reinstate the gag order on Trump she recently paused.
Cheney sums up the filing as a “remarkable portrayal of a former president as an active danger who must be restricted by a court to not only protect the integrity of the upcoming trial but also the physical safety of government witnesses” — including Meadows, who once in his inner circle.
“I don’t think Mark Meadows would lie about the Rigged and Stollen 2020 Presidential Election merely for getting IMMUNITY against Prosecution (PERSECUTION!) by Deranged Prosecutor, Jack Smith,” Trump wrote Tuesday evening, adding:
BUT, when you really think about it, after being hounded like a dog for three years, told you’ll be going to jail for the rest of your life, your money and your family will be forever gone, and we’re not at all interested in exposing those that did the RIGGING — If you say BAD THINGS about that terrible “MONSTER,” DONALD J. TRUMP, we won’t put you in prison, you can keep your family and your wealth, and, perhaps, if you can make up some really horrible “STUFF” a out him, we may very well erect a statue of you in the middle of our decaying and now very violent Capital, Washington, D.C. Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future our Failing Nation. I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!
ABC News reported earlier in the day Tuesday that Meadows had “spoken with special counsel Jack Smith’s team at least three times this year, including once before a federal grand jury, which came only after Smith granted Meadows immunity to testify under oath.” The report cited multiple sources familiar with the matter and added:
Meadows informed Smith’s team that he repeatedly told Trump in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election that the allegations of significant voting fraud coming to them were baseless, a striking break from Trump’s prolific rhetoric regarding the election.
Smith reportedly sought Meadows’s testimony to gain further insight into conversations surrounding the 2020 presidential election and Trump’s claims the election was stolen from him, which fueled his efforts to stay in power despite losing. According to ABC News reporting, “Meadows privately told Smith’s investigators that — to this day — he has yet to see any evidence of fraud that would have kept now-president Joe Biden from the White House, and he told them he agrees with a government assessment at the time that the 2020 presidential election was the most secure election in U.S. history.”
This is a developing story and has been updated.
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