Mark Meadows aims to keep GOP influence – despite cooperating in Trump trial: report

Mark Meadows has a delicate balance to strike if he wants to maintain his influence among far-right lawmakers while working with federal election investigators who granted Donald Trump’s former chief of staff immunity this week, a new CNN report shows.

Reports this week claimed the founder of the House Freedom Caucus had met with special Counsel Jack Smith to discuss both the 2020 election interference and classified documents cases.

And, as apparently false rumors spread that Meadows had worn a wire to aid the federal investigation, CNN reported, “His clout within pro-Trump circles could be threatened if Republicans suspect that he turned on the former president.”

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Meadows’ attorney and a source close to his team both denied he’d “flipped,” and it can’t be denied that House GOP members sought his help selecting a new House speaker.

But as CNN reports, Meadows says a lot of things. Take the Jan. 6 investigation: Meadows provided 2,319 text messages to investigators.

And, as ABC News reports, Meadows told investigators that Trump was being “dishonest” when he declared Election Day victory and that he warned the then-president voter fraud charges were baseless.

Yet in his memoir, a public-facing Meadows repeatedly declared the existence of real evidence of fraud.

For now, Trump appears to believe in Meadow’s loyalty, telling CNN, “He strongly believes the election was rigged.”

But as Fulton County District Attorney continues to flip co-defendants in the Georgia case against Trump, Meadows and now 14 remaining others, she’s giving the former chief-of-staff’s tightrope quite a shake.