Here's how Mark Meadows just made himself 'unusable' as a cooperator: Mueller prosecutor
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows suffered a blow in court on Friday when a federal judge rejected his bid to have his charges in the Georgia election racketeering case moved to federal court, widely speculated to have been a ploy to make the case easier to defeat. But even worse, argued former Robert Mueller investigation prosecutor Andrew Weissmann on MSNBC Friday, Meadows blew any shot he had at a good deal with prosecutors by pulling this stunt.
"[One] thing that I find interesting is the judge is polite in the way he phrases it, but he clearly did not credit Mark Meadows' testimony," Weissmann told anchor Nicolle Wallace on "Deadline: White House." "One of the phrases that stood out to me is he says there are certain things that he credits and then he says however, the court gives less weight to his assertion which is a very polite way of saying, he doesn't buy it. And he points out that Mark Meadows was not able to, when he took the stand, to delineate what was his role as Chief of Staff."
"Well some of that turns, I would assume in the point in the hearing where [Fulton County prosecutor] Fani Willis and her team were able to pull out ... email where he was directing campaign officials to direct the fake electors," said Wallace.
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"Absolutely, and that's where Mark Meadows is a part of the lie saying, oh, well, this is just an alternative slate of electors," said Weissman. "He actually then confessed and said this was just part of the campaign."
"Because of the emails produced by Willis and her team. I want to ask you, I mean, a lot of people have contended, of the superior resume and caliber of Meadows' attorney, this becomes his first known legal blow?" asked Wallace.
"That is true," agreed Weissman. "It is, I think, there's no question he has a real lawyer, he is well respected, well known, that differentiates him to some extent with many of the other counsel who I will not name. He took a gamble by putting him on the stand and thinking that his testimony would be compelling enough to satisfy his burden. I think that there's a big downside in what just happened, because I think he made himself unusable as a potential witness, so one of the things when you are a defense lawyer is you think about, do I have an option of cooperating with the government, if things really go bad? He took the stand and said things that I think would be very hard for a state or federal prosecutor to live with."
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