In the Georgia RICO case involving former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, there are indications that Meadows may potentially point to former President Trump as a factor, as outlined in a recent report.
Meadows, one of the 19 co-defendants in the case, opted to waive his arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty to charges related to the alleged subversion of the 2020 election in Fulton County.
According to Politico’s report, Meadows’ attorney appears to be attributing some responsibility to Trump for orchestrating a phone call that took place on January 2, 2021. During this call, Trump communicated with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, with the stated objective of “finding” votes, as Trump had raised concerns about election interference.
The following is from the Politico article:
“There’s a lot of statements by Mr. Trump. Mr. Meadows’ speaking roles were quite limited,” Meadows’ lawyer, Michael Francisco, observed as he cross-examined Raffensperger, who was called to testify by prosecutors.
“He didn’t make a request that you change the vote totals — Mr. Meadows, himself?” Francisco continued.
“Correct,” Raffensperger replied.
…
Meadows made clear in his own testimony at last week’s hearing that Trump viewed the false electors as a significant part of his strategy to remain in power. He said he sent an email pushing the campaign to assemble those slates because he feared a tongue-lashing from Trump.
“What I didn’t want to happen was for the campaign to prevail in court action and not have this” lined up, he said.
“Why?” prosecutor Anna Cross asked him.
“Because I knew I’d be yelled at by the president of the United States,” he said.
