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Former President Donald Trumps’ last White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the Washington Post reports.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony related to the insurrection, and Meadows received the subpoena in January, a person familiar with the matter told WaPo. Mike Pence was also hit with a subpoena, and the move by Smith is likely to set up a battle overexecutive privilege, which Trump has leaned on in the past to stymie the Justice Department’s investigation.
Smith wasappointedto the position in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland to determine whether criminal charges stemming from Justice Department investigations should be brought againstDonald Trump.The special counsel is also overseeing the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.
CNN reported last week that Trump’s team hadturned over additional classified materialto the DOJ that they recovered in December and January, and that an aide had even copied some of the material to a laptop and a thumb drive. The aide reportedly did not realize the material was classified and the laptop and thumb drive were also turned over to authorities.
It is not clear if federal prosecutors also want to question Meadows in connection with the Mar-a-Lago probe.
Last year, Meadowswas forced to hand over 2,319 text messages to the House select committee, which also investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In the Talking Points Memo report, Meadows was found to havetexted with 34 lawmakers about overturning the 2020 election.
