Mark Meadows May Be 'Cooperating Witness' Against Trump: Glenn Kirschner

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows might be the key the Justice Department needs to uncover incriminating evidence against Donald Trump, according to a former federal prosecutor.

The former president has been under investigation by the department for his actions leading up to the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the building to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that the election was stolen and that he defeated Joe Biden. For months, the House's January 6 select committee has been investigating the attack and those involved, and it is looking into whether Trump committed any crimes in connection with the riot.

On Thursday, attorney and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said the Justice Department may be hoping to obtain more information from Meadows, who was Trump's chief of staff during his presidency's last year. Kirschner was speaking on an episode of The Legal Breakdown with Brian Cohen, which was posted on YouTube.

Meadows has been the subject of media attention recently after it was revealed that he received a text in January 2021 from Republican Representative Ralph Norman. Norman allegedly asked Meadows to urge Trump to impose "Marshall Law" in order to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Norman misspelled "martial law" in his text, prompting criticism and jokes at his expense.

"I think Mark Meadows is right in the thick of that criminal conspiracy," Kirschner said. "And the hope is, I suspect, the Department of Justice can develop Mark Meadows as a cooperating witness because he had the ear of the president and may have directly incriminating evidence to offer prosecutors and the jury when Donald Trump is sitting as a defendant in federal court."

The House has already accused Meadows of being in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 committee. Meadows stopped voluntarily cooperating with the panel in December 2021, but he hasn't been prosecuted on the charge. Kirschner speculated that the Justice Department refused to indict Meadows because the former chief of staff is a pawn in a much larger game.

In his interview with Cohen, Kirschner said he expects Meadows has access to much more damaging texts from Republican players that he didn't turn over to the January 6 committee before he stopped cooperating with it. A big question is how many of the texts were delivered to Trump and, if so, what the president did in response, the former prosecutor said.

Kirschner also said the Justice Department may be playing a longer game in holding on to the contempt of Congress charge against Meadows until federal prosecutors are prepared to pursue a charge against Trump: conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States or to defraud the U.S.

Newsweek reached out to Meadows for comment.