Unique: Trump chief of employees Mark Meadows subpoenaed by particular counsel in Jan. 6 investigation

Donald Trump’s former chief of employees Mark Meadows has been subpoenaed by the particular counsel investigating the previous president and his function within the January 6, 2021, revolt, a supply acquainted with the matter informed CNN.

Particular counsel Jack Smith’s workplace is in search of paperwork and testimony associated to January 6, and Meadows acquired the subpoena someday in January, the supply stated. An lawyer for Meadows declined to remark.

The Justice Division didn’t reply to CNN’s request for touch upon the subpoena.

The transfer to subpoena one in every of Trump’s most senior aides – along with the latest subpoena of former Vice President Mike Pence, as CNN reported final week – marks the newest important step within the particular counsel’s investigation into Trump’s function in in search of to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

Smith is also concurrently investigating Trump’s dealing with of labeled paperwork after leaving workplace. Whereas the subpoena is expounded to January 6, Meadows additionally could also be of curiosity within the paperwork investigation. He was one in every of Trump’s designees to the Nationwide Archives and performed a task in discussions round returning authorities information in his possession.

The particular counsel’s subpoena might arrange a conflict with the Justice Division and Meadows over government privilege. The previous White Home chief of employees, citing government privilege, beforehand fought a subpoena from a particular grand jury in Georgia that was investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election outcomes. A choose later ordered Meadows to testify, discovering him “materials and essential to the investigation.”

Meadows was concerned within the notorious cellphone name between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and in a December 2020 White Home assembly about election fraud claims. Meadows additionally visited a web site the place an audit of Georgia’s election was underway and despatched emails to Justice Division officers about unsubstantiated fraud allegations.

On January 6, Meadows was out and in of the Oval Workplace and witness to Trump’s actions as rioters overtook the US Capitol that day.

The latest subpoena for Meadows additionally underscores the aggressive nature of the particular counsel’s probe. CNN has reported that Smith additionally has subpoenaed former Trump nationwide safety adviser Robert O’Brien in each of the Trump-related probes, and Justice Division attorneys interviewed Trump’s former performing Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Chad Wolf in latest weeks as a part of the probe into 2020 election interference.