Trump's chief of staff subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith: CNN

Special counsel Jack Smith, the key figure leading the criminal investigation into January 6, has issued a subpoena against former President Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, CNN reported on Wednesday.

"Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, and Meadows received the subpoena sometime in January, the source said. An attorney for Meadows declined to comment," reported CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

"The move to subpoena one of Trump’s most senior aides – in addition to the recent subpoena of former Vice President Mike Pence, as CNN reported last week – marks the latest significant step in the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s role in seeking to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election."

"The special counsel’s subpoena could set up a clash with the Justice Department and Meadows over executive privilege," said the report. "The former White House chief of staff, citing executive privilege, previously fought a subpoena from a special grand jury in Georgia that was investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. A judge later ordered Meadows to testify, finding him 'material and necessary to the investigation.'"

Meadows was a key figure in the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Previous reports detail how he acted as a middleman helping Trump's allies in Congress, like Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), to push conspiracy theories into the Justice Department.

Additionally, "Meadows was involved in the infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and in a December 2020 White House meeting about election fraud claims," said the report. "Meadows also visited a site where an audit of Georgia’s election was underway and sent emails to Justice Department officials about unsubstantiated fraud allegations."

Besides the January 6 investigation, Smith is also leading the probe into classified documents improperly removed from the National Archives and stored at Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club.