Meadows Asked DOJ To Entertain Trump’s Election Fantasies

NEWTOWN, PA - OCTOBER 31: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows greets supporters before President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on October 31, 2020 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. With the election only three days ... NEWTOWN, PA - OCTOBER 31: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows greets supporters before President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on October 31, 2020 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. With the election only three days away, Trump is holding four rallies across Pennsylvania today, as he vies to recapture the Keystone State's vital 20 electoral votes. In 2016, he carried Pennsylvania by only 44,292 votes out of more than 6 million cast, less than a 1 percent differential, becoming the first Republican to claim victory here since 1988. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows reportedly pushed the Justice Department during Trump’s final weeks in office, to investigate groundless conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.

The New York Times reported Saturday that it had reviewed five recently recovered emails sent at the end of December and the beginning of January, that involved requests from Meadows to then acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen. The emails asked Rosen to examine outlandish claims that supported Trump’s big election lie.

The correspondence from Meadows, which came to light through a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation, reveal an even more desperate attempt than previously known by Trump and his allies to validate baffling and implausible theories about the election before leaving office.

Among the mythology seized upon in the request for further inquiry was a theory that people in Italy had used military technology and satellites to remotely switch votes for Trump to votes for President Joe Biden, the Times said. 

Meadows also pushed for the DOJ’s investigation of debunked claims that anomalies with signature matches in Georgia’s Fulton County could toss a win to Trump in the state. Meadows also reportedly sent Rosen a list of allegations of possible election wrongdoing in New Mexico.

According to the Times, none of the emails showed Rosen agreeing to launch an examination of the claims put forward by Meadows. Former officials and people close to him also told the Times that Rosen had not opened those investigations. 

Meadows’ efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election results have been well-documented.

He was also involved in Trump’s now infamous phone call pressing Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state. 

In a statement, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, (D-IL) said his committee would continue to demand evidence in its probe into whether the DOJ had played a part in efforts to overturn Trump’s election loss.

“This new evidence underscores the depths of the White House’s efforts to co-opt the department and influence the electoral vote certification,” Durbin said in the statement. “I will demand all evidence of Trump’s efforts to weaponize the Justice Department in his election subversion scheme.”

Latest News
113
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. five recently recovered emails

    Hmm. Makes it sound like they’d been deleted in violation of the Presidential Records Act or something. Of course, neither Dr. Cadet Toadglans mit der Bone Spurs von Queens or his henchmen would ever do anything like that.

    Most. Transparent. malAdministration. Ever. LOL

  2. He may be meadows but is is not outstanding in his field.

    What an idiot serving an idiot.

  3. Does anyone know if there’s anything in this that’s indictable?
    It’d be satisfying to see Meadows go down, a possibility that’d only be made brighter by the prospect of his flipping on Mango Mussolini.

  4. Is this finally enough to impeach the motherfucker? Asking for @tena.

  5. Meadows’ angle here was not to actually get the DOJ to reverse anything (it can’t), but just to create a buzz that legitimizes the idea of election fraud.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

107 more replies

Participants

Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for irasdad Avatar for bonvivant Avatar for lastroth Avatar for stradivarius50t3 Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for pshah Avatar for tena Avatar for jinnj Avatar for Anarchy_Bunker Avatar for brian512 Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for maximus Avatar for justruss Avatar for bcgister Avatar for kenga Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for yellowbeard Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for kovie Avatar for LeeHarveyGriswold Avatar for ClutchCargo

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: