Donald Trump Is Uncertain if Mark Meadows Has Betrayed Him

Former President Donald Trump appeared unsure whether his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had turned on him in a pair of social media posts on Tuesday.

Meadows has been granted immunity by Special Counsel Jack Smith and told investigators that he warned Trump that claims the 2020 presidential election was rigged were without foundation, ABC News reported on Tuesday.

The former president was indicted in August in Washington, D.C. and charged with four counts related to alleged attempts to obstruct the 2020 election.

The charges are conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Meadows has spoken to investigators at least three times in the last year, including once before a grand jury, according to the ABC News report on Tuesday that cited sources familiar with the matter.

The former White House chief of staff also told investigators that Trump was being "dishonest" when he claimed to have won the 2020 election, ABC said.

"Obviously we didn't win," Meadows is reported to have told Smith's team.

Meadows' legal team cast doubt on ABC's reporting, without specifying which parts were false.

"I told ABC that their story was largely inaccurate. People will have to judge for themselves the decision to run it anyway," George Terwilliger, Meadows' lawyer, told CBS News, according to a post on X by CBS News correspondent Catherine Herridge.

Newsweek has been unable to independently verify the ABC report and has contacted Meadows' legal team for comment.

The former president appeared to address the issue in two posts on his Truth Social site on Tuesday where he seemed unsure if Meadows had betrayed him.

"I don't think Mark Meadows would lie about the Rigged and Stollen [sic] 2020 Presidential Election merely for getting IMMUNITY against Prosecution (PERSECUTION!) by Deranged Prosecutor, Jack Smith," Trump wrote.

"BUT, when you really think about it, after being hounded like a dog for three years, told you'll be going to jail for the rest of your life, your money and your family will be forever gone, and we're not at all interested in exposing those that did the RIGGING — If you say BAD THINGS about that terrible "MONSTER," DONALD J. TRUMP, we won't put you in prison, you can keep your family and your wealth, and, perhaps, if you can make up some really horrible "STUFF" a[b]out him, we may very well erect a statue of you in the middle of our decaying and now very violent Capital, Washington, D.C," he went on.

"Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future [of] our Failing Nation. I don't think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!" Trump wrote.

In another post moments later, Trump added: "Mark Meadows NEVER told me that allegations of significant fraud (about the RIGGED Election!) were baseless. He certainly didn't say that in his book!"

Newsweek has reached out to Special Counsel Smith's office via email for comment.

Former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty on Tuesday to to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings in connection with a separate indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against Trump and 18 others over alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia.

That plea followed guilty pleas in the same case from Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro. Powell is a lawyer who was involved in Trump's efforts to contest the results of the 2020 presidential election while Chesebro, also a lawyer, has been considered by some as the ringleader of an alleged "stolen electors" plot in Georgia. Their pleas protect them from jail time. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Trump's attorneys are seeking to have the charges against him in the election subversion case in Washington, D.C. dismissed on a number of grounds including the claim that the case violates his First Amendment rights and that the charges have arisen from "selective and vindictive prosecution."