Legal experts are speculating that Donald Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, may be cooperating with federal prosecutors, noting that he has remained quiet as the former president's legal worries are piling up.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance and lawyer George Conway both questioned why Meadows has been away from the public view, despite long being considered a potential key witness in the investigation into the attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and the events leading up to the January 6 attack.
Meadows has shied away from the spotlight and making public statements, even after Trump announced he had received a target letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith's office informing the former president he is under investigation, a sign that another indictment will soon be filed against Trump in the January 6 inquiry and election investigation. Trump has denied all wrongdoing in connection to Smith's probe.
Meadows also remained relatively quiet as previous reports emerged in June that he had testified to a grand jury after he was subpoenaed to do so by Smith's office. Meadows is said to have answered questions about Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as well as classified documents in a case where Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 charges, ABC News reported. George Terwilliger, a lawyer representing Meadows, has been contacted for comment via email.
During a recent appearance on CNN, Conway was asked by host Anderson Cooper whether Meadows has cooperated, as the former president's one time chief of staff appears to have "disappeared from the scene." Conway suggested there are signs that Meadows is cooperating with federal prosecutors as there has been a "very strange quietness" from him in recent months.
"I just had the feeling something's going on there. I mean, he's someone who ought to be every bit as exposed as Donald Trump, yet he's been so quiet and there just seems like there's something up with him," Conway said.
In an interview with MSNBC's The ReidOut on Thursday, Vance agreed that Meadows has been "awfully quiet," while suggesting federal cooperation may be the reason why.
"Look, Mark Meadows is someone who, in some ways, makes his living by promoting himself and his work, his book, on television. It's surprising to see him go to radio silence," Vance said.
"That's something that we often see with people who've struck a cooperation deal with the government," Vance added. "That's not the only conclusion that we could reach here. He could simply be trying to keep himself out of it with the low profile, knowing he does have considerable exposure."
Meadows is considered a key player in the attempt by Trump and his allies to try and overturn the 2020 election results, despite allegedly being made aware that the efforts could be illegal, and he was present with Trump on January 6 as the riot at the Capitol was taking place.
In 2022, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack obtained messages sent to Meadows showing that GOP lawmakers, Fox News presenters and members of Trump's own family tried to persuade Meadows to get the former president to tell his supporters to end the violence on January 6, something Trump failed to do for more than three hours.
In a previous interview with MSNBC's Joy Reid, Conway suggested that Meadows cooperating with investigators in the January 6 investigation would be a "very bad sign" for Trump.
"He was the guy who was opening and closing the door and talking to Trump, he was the one who got Ivanka [Trump] to come down to talk to her father," Conway said.
"He was basically in Grand Central Station that day. And if anyone could shed light on Trump's state of mind, what he did and he didn't do, it's Mark Meadows and that's got to be a very, very disturbing thing for Donald Trump."
It was previously reported that Trump and his team had fallen out of contact with the former chief of staff, despite being considered a key figure in Smith's probes, prompting speculation Meadows was cooperating or that he was a target in the inquiry himself.
"We've all heard the same rumors," one Trump adviser told CNN in May. "No one really knows what he's doing though."
