Former President Donald Trump was quick to doubt and deny reporting his former chief of staff told him plainly that he lost the 2020 election.
The 45th president was in a New York court Tuesday when news broke that Mark Meadows, the former North Carolina representative who served as Trump’s last chief of staff, had apparently met with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s legal team several times in connection with Trump’s election denial.
According to ABC, citing “sources familiar with the matter,” Meadows met with government lawyers three times, once in the presence of a grand jury. Citing the same sources, the news organization claims that Meadows was offered limited immunity in order to reveal potentially incriminating information about Trump’s efforts to see the presidential election overturned.
Meadows apparently told Smith’s team he rebuffed his bosses’ claims of election fraud, and that the former president’s assertion he won the 2020 election was “dishonest.”
Trump responded to the news with disbelief.
“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 on his Truth Social media platform, misspelling and capitalization included.
Trump went on to offer a reason as to why Meadows might have worked with Smith.
“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,” Trump wrote.
The cooperation of Trump’s former chief of staff would be key to Smith’s prosecution of the former president, who a grand jury has charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and obstruct an official proceeding.
Meadows’ lawyer later told another news outlet that reporting on his client’s time with Smith “was largely inaccurate.”
Trump said that Meadows never told him the 2020 election wasn’t rigged against him, a claim the former president has maintained, without providing any evidence, since the day following the election.
“Mark Meadows NEVER told me that allegations of significant fraud (about the RIGGED Election!) were baseless. He certainly didn’t say that in his book,” Trump wrote.
No court has accepted any of the former president’s assertions of election fraud or any made by lawyers representing his claims. Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden after netting 74,223,975 votes to the now-sitting president’s 81,283,501, and following an electoral college defeat of 232 – 306.
