We may finally be about to get an answer on why the DOJ and the Fulton County DA have skipped over Mark Meadows
If you’ve convinced yourself that the “DOJ is doing nothing” because it skipped over Mark Meadows, you should consider that the Fulton County DA has now also decided to skip over Mark Meadows. If one of them has a valid reason for this particular tactic, they probably both do.
The circumstances are different but fit a similar pattern. The DOJ has charged Bannon and Navarro, and executed warrants against Eastman and Clark, but done nothing to Meadows. The Fulton County DA has now reportedly sent subpoenas or target letters to every Trump associate in the Georgia plot, except Meadows.
Is this because Meadows is cooperating with them both? Or is it because each prosecutor sees Meadows as a prime criminal target alongside Trump, and is waiting to formally engage Meadows for that reason? We don’t know yet. But we may be about to find out.
Even though the DOJ announced weeks ago that it wasn’t charging Meadows with contempt of Congress at that time, the DOJ is now taking the position in a court filing that the January 6th Committee’s Meadows subpoena was fully proper and justified. So why didn’t it charge him with contempt for his failure to comply with this subpoena?
This circles back to the two equally plausible yet completely opposite explanations: either it’s because Meadows has flipped, or it’s because Meadows is a crucial target and the DOJ doesn’t want to indict Meadows for anything until it’s ready to indict him for everything.
In any case, former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade suspects that, in light of this court filing, a judge may soon order Mark Meadows to testify to the January 6th Committee. This would be remarkable, because if Meadows still refused, the judge would likely hold him in contempt of court, a process which tends to produce swift results. Notably, it was reported earlier this week that the committee may end up holding a second round of hearings in about six weeks.
So why is the DOJ taking this position with Mark Meadows now? Even though the DOJ hasn’t indicted Meadows for contempt of Congress, the January 6th Committee hasn’t given up, and is still fighting Meadows in court in an attempt at convincing him to testify; that court battle is finally coming to a head. The DOJ thus had to announce a position on the matter, and so it decided to announce that it believes the Meadows’s congressional subpoena was fully valid. This means this has always been the DOJ’s position, and it suggests that its decision not to indict Meadows for contempt of Congress was for other strategic reasons.
It all serves to further underscore just how unusual it is that everyone from the Department of Justice to the Fulton County District Attorney sees Mark Meadows as crucial to all of this, but has also declined to take any action against him – even while taking action against others in Meadows’ same boat.
We’ll find out eventually if this is because Meadows is a prime target in both probes, or because Meadows is cooperating in both probes. And if this new DOJ court filing does result in a judge ordering Meadows to testify, we could get that answer sooner rather than later.
