Meadows took 'extraordinary' steps to pressure Georgia elections officials: Jan. 6 hearing
ASHEVILLE — Mark Meadows, former President Donald Trump's chief of staff, took extraordinary steps to assist the Trump's 2020 pressure campaign on Georgia election officials, according to information aired during the latest Jan. 6 select committee hearing.
Along with trying to give Trump-branded items to the state inspectors charged with ensuring the fairness of the recounts, Meadows helped call the Georgia Secretary of State's Office more than a dozen times and went in person to an election audit site, according to testimony and evidence given June 21, the fourth select committee public session.
Despite refusing to appear in person, texts and other testimony have put Meadows at the center of the investigation into the plot to overturn the election and the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
During the third hearing on June 17, Vice President Mike Pence's top aide testified Meadows said he knew a plot to overturn the election by having Pence refuse to certify results Jan. 6 was illegal.
The next public session of the committee will be 3 p.m. June 23.
Jan. 6 hearing takeaways: Trump's false claims led to threats that turned lives 'upside down'
The latest hearing focused on the pressure campaigns waged by Giuliani, Meadows and Trump himself on high-ranking Republicans in states where Biden won.
A former Meadows aide also linked her boss to early moves to create fake slates of Trump electors in Georgia and other states won by Joe Biden.
In a pre-recorded video, former aide Cassidy Hutchinson was asked by a committee interviewer who she remembered being involved in the first discussions "regarding having alternate electors meet?"
Hutchinson replied, "Mr. (Rudolph) Giuliani, several of Mr. Giuliani's associates, Mr. Meadows, members of Congress — although it's difficult to distinguish if the members I am thinking of were involved during Thanksgiving or if they were involved as we progressed through December."
The rationale at first given for the electors was to have them in place in case Trump prevailed in legal challenges to Biden's victory. But following swift court rejection, proponents of false electors said they should be kept in place. That led to some on the president's campaign legal team to object and say they would not be involved.
Meadows turned over thousands of texts to the committee but later stopped cooperating and refused to testify. The House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress, but the Justice Department declined to prosecute. His spokesperson Ben Williamson did not respond to a message seeking comment the evening of June 21.
Elected in 2012 to North Carolina's 11th District, Meadows resigned in 2020 to work as Trump's top aide. During and after the last election, he frequently raised the prospect of voter fraud, casting doubt on Joe Biden's win. But Meadows is now facing a North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation election fraud probe after records showed him voting using the address of a Macon County mobile home where he appears never to have stayed.
According to information previously reported and new details at the June 21 hearing, Trump pushed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger "to find" enough votes to overcome his 12,000 ballot deficit and told the secretary's chief inspector Frances Watson to do "whatever you can do."
"This is the president of the United States, calling an investigator looking into the election, in which he is a candidate, and asking her to do 'whatever you can do,'" said committee member Rep. Adam Schiff.
"The White House, including the former president's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, repeatedly called or texted the secretary's office some 18 times," the California Democrat said, in order to set up the call with Raffensperger. "They were quite persistent."
"Meadows took the extraordinary step of showing up at a signature audit site in Georgia," where he met with Watson, who was supervising that audit process, Schiff said while a picture of Meadows with the Georgia officials was displayed.
The day after the visit, Meadows set up the call between Trump and Watson, he said.
"The select committee has received text messages indicating that Mark Meadows wanted to send some of the investigators in her office — in the words of one White House aide — a (expletive deleted) load of POTUS stuff, including coins, actual autographed MAGA hats, etc. White House staff intervened to make sure that didn't happen," Schiff said.
Among questions sent to Meadows' spokesperson were whether he would change his mind and testify.
In her closing remarks, committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney praised those who gave testimony to the committee and chided those who had declined, citing Meadows.
"Mark Meadows has hidden behind President Trump's claims of executive privilege and immunity from subpoenas," the Wyoming Republican said. "We are engaged now in litigation with Mr. Meadows."
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter.