Did Mark Meadows flip?
Speculation is running rampant that Mark Meadows either flipped on Donald Trump or simply threw him under the bus. Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and said that he “believes it’s unlikely” that Meadows flipped. He bases that statement on the fact that Meadows is also charged in the Georgia indictment, but there are two other cases pending against Trump in the federal courts.
According to ABC News, Meadows told Jack Smith’s investigators that Donald Trump could not have declassified the documents he spirited away to Mar-a-Lago. Perhaps this information isn’t considered “flipping,” but it certainly doesn’t help Donald Trump. He continues to lie about the classified documents, not that lying is anything unusual for him; however, you would think that at some point, he would see his lies aren’t working. Meadows was apparently specific, saying that he did not “recall Trump ever ordering, or even discussing, declassifying” documents. Meadows further advised that he was not aware of any “standing order” from Trump authorizing automatic classification. Well, that’s because such a thing doesn’t exist.
Trump knew he had no business taking those documents, which is why he lied about declassifying them. Yet, he was heard on tape showing a document to people and saying that he could have declassified them but that he now cannot. Trump, therefore, knew those documents were not declassified, and he took them anyway. In fact, his claim about the document he showed was included initially in Mark Meadows’ book. ABC News reviewed a draft of the book, and it included “a description of Trump having a classified war plan ‘on the couch’ in his office in Bedminster, New Jersey,” which is the same meeting in which he was taped running his mouth. He now claims that it was just a piece of paper or something similarly ridiculous, but Meadows’ draft confirmed that it was indeed a classified document, just lying on Trump’s couch for all to see. Meadows even told prosecutors that he asked that line to be modified in his book because “it would be problematic” for Trump.
Smith’s investigators apparently went into detail during their interview with Meadows. As ABC News reported, Meadows said that he was not involved in packing boxes because he wanted to “distance himself” from anything having to do with classified documents. Meadows did not witness Trump packing any boxes either, but when NARA requested the return of the records, Meadows offered to go through the boxes, which offer Trump declined. While Meadows did confirm that he had heard the words “standing orders” while in the White House, he never heard the terms used in relation to classified materials. Now that investigators have Meadows’ testimony, which has been released publicly through this article, Trump’s team cannot use either lie for his defense. Worse for Trump, The Hill reported that Mike Pence was also not aware of any “broad-based effort to declassify documents.” Oh, well. Trump’s team might want to find a “Plan B” for their defense because neither of their earlier stories are going to fly given the testimonies of Pence and Meadows.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years