Trump staff chief Meadows was warned of Jan. 6 violence

Investigators say he pushed rally despite concerns

Mark Meadows, the final chief of staff for President Donald Trump, was told that plans to try to overturn the 2020 election using so-called alternate electors were not “legally sound” and that the events of Jan. 6 could turn violent, but he pushed forward with a rally anyway, the House committee investigating the Capitol attack alleged in a Friday night court filing.

In the 248-page filing, lawyers for the committee highlighted the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a White House aide in Meadows’ office, who revealed new details about the events that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress.

“I know that there were concerns brought forward to Mr. Meadows,” Hutchinson told investigators at a deposition March 7, adding: “I know that people had brought information forward to him that had indicated that there could be violence on the 6th. But, again, I’m not sure if he — what he did with that information.”

Hutchinson said Anthony Ornato, former White House chief of operations, told Meadows that “we had intel reports saying that there could potentially be violence on the 6th. And Mr. Meadows said: All right. Let’s talk about it.”

“But despite this and other warnings, President Trump urged the attendees at the January 6th rally to march to the Capitol to ‘take back your country,’” Douglas Letter, general counsel of the House, wrote in the filing.

The committee put forward the evidence Friday to try to persuade a federal judge in Washington to throw out Meadows’ suit against the panel. Meadows is trying to block the committee’s subpoenas, which he called “overly broad and unduly burdensome.”

In response, the committee laid out numerous ways its lawyers say Meadows was deeply involved in the effort to the overturn the 2020 election. Those included his work furthering a scheme to direct certain battleground states to put forward pro-Trump electors even though their voters had chosen Joe Biden and a pressure campaign in Georgia and other states to try to change the election outcome.

Citing Hutchinson’s testimony, the panel said it had evidence “that Mr. Meadows and certain congressmen were advised by White House counsel that efforts to generate false certificates did not comply with the law.”

Hutchinson told investigators that she heard lawyers from the White House Counsel’s Office say the plan for alternate electors was not “legally sound,” according to the filing.

“The select committee’s filing today urges the court to reject Mark Meadows’ baseless claims and put an end to his obstruction of our investigation,” the leaders of the committee, Reps. Bennie Thompson, D Miss., and Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement. “Mr. Meadows is hiding behind broad claims of executive privilege even though much of the information we’re seeking couldn’t possibly be covered by privilege and courts have rejected similar claims because the committee’s interest in getting to the truth is so compelling.”

A lawyer for Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The committee issued a subpoena in November to Hutchinson, who served as special assistant to the president for legislative affairs and was at the White House on Jan. 6 and with Trump when he spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally that day. She also reached out to Georgia officials about Meadows’ trip to that state.

She was present for key meetings and discussions in the White House in the buildup to Jan. 6.

Hutchinson also told the panel that top White House lawyers had threatened to resign over extreme plans to seize voting machines, and that had helped persuade Meadows to back off that plan.

The panel also emphasized how personally involved Meadows was in attempts to pressure Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, over Trump’s loss there — so much so that Raffensperger ducked and ignored his phone calls.

“‘Yeah, Mark Meadows called. The president wants to talk to you,’” Raffensperger recalled an aide telling him. “I don’t want to do that. And just tell him, you know, we’re just not interested in doing that.”