Mark Meadows Refuses to Testify for 2020 Election Fraud Hearings
The controversy surrounding the 2020 Presidential election has been highlighted this past week with Georgia calling on a new witness to testify, Mark Meadows. Meadows was former President Trump’s White House chief of staff, and was in office during the election scandal and the January 6th insurrection. Meadows’ involvement with the voting fraud claims has been documented in text messages exchanged on January 6th during the attack on the Capitol Building and a phone call between members of the Trump Administration and Georgia election officials. [3]
Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, discussed the voter fraud and election interference allegations with Trump, Meadows, and a team of lawyers on January 2nd. This phone call is being used as evidence of Meadows’ involvement with meddling in the Georgia, specifically Fulton County, election process. In this phone call, Meadows supports Trump’s demand that Raffensperger “acquire” the votes needed for Trump to declare a majority win in Georgia. [2]
Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney, established a special purpose grand jury to further investigate different actors’ roles in the events that conspired throughout the election, as well as what was discussed on the January 2nd phone call.
Meadows is not cooperating with the Georgia courts order to testify, claiming that the Fulton County District Attorney’s usage of the South Carolina Law that would require his appearance and testimony is not applicable for this specific subpoena. [1] In Georgia, Special Grand Juries are able to compel testimony based on gathered evidence, but can not issue indictments. Meadows’ lawyer is making the argument that the special grand jury proceedings do not qualify as a criminal proceeding under the South Carolina law that governs out-of-state subpoena requests. Therefore, Banister argues Meadows cannot be compelled to testify in a civil inquiry, and in the absence of his testimony he cannot be labeled a material witness. [1]
