Mark Meadows can reveal 'especially pernicious' details of Trump's coup plot to House investigators: columnist

On Wednesday, writing for MSNBC, analyst Steve Benen broke down the significance of former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows agreeing to cooperate with the House committee on the January 6 Capitol attack.

"When Trump tried to hold onto power despite losing the 2020 election, Meadows played an especially pernicious role in the scheme," wrote Benen. "It was Meadows, for example, who made a surprise visit to Georgia shortly before Christmas, checking in on an election audit after his boss leaned on local officials to help him. Around the same time, Trump's top aide repeatedly pushed federal law enforcement to investigate unfounded conspiracy theories — some of which were quite weird."

Among the theories Meadows pushed the DOJ to investigate was "Italygate" — a bizarre idea that Italy used military satellites to remotely tamper with U.S. elections equipment.

READ MORE: Former top Trump aide Mark Meadows is cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee

This cooperation comes after several other Trump allies have refused to engage with the committee, some of whom now face legal consequences. Steve Bannon, for example, is under indictment for contempt of Congress. Some members of Congress, chiefly Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA), are skeptical that Meadows will actually divulge helpful information.

"Looking ahead, the fact that Meadows is now 'engaging with' the investigatory committee is an important development — one that the former president almost certainly will not like — but it'll be worth watching to see whether, and to what extent, the progress continues," concluded Benen.

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