Despite the apparent evidence of possible unlawful acts Donald Trump may have committed, according to well-known attorneys, the former president’s inner circle is reportedly positioning his White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, to be the “likely fall guy” for his actions surrounding the January 6 insurrection, a just-published report at Rolling Stone reveals.
“Members of Trump’s legal team are actively planning certain strategies around Meadows’ downfall — including possible criminal charges. Trump has himself begun the process of distancing himself from some of his onetime senior aide’s alleged actions around Jan. 6,” Rolling Stone reveals.
“Everyone is strategizing around the likelihood that Mark is in a lot of trouble,” says a lawyer close to the former president. “Everyone who knows what they’re doing, anyway.”
A former GOP Congressman who became one of Trump’s top defenders before becoming his top aide and advisor, Mark Meadows is not without fault, some say, believing he may he committed questionable or even illegal acts.
“Meadows’ already bleak legal prospects could get even worse. Rolling Stone has learned that the Jan. 6 committee has been quietly probing his financial dealings, and any new revelations would add to an already long list of unethical and potential illegal actions he’s accused of taking on behalf of Donald Trump.”
But it will be hard for Meadows to take all the blame for Trump’s actions leading up to the insurrection. Well-known legal experts like attorneys George Conway and Laurence Tribe have gone so far as to tweet sections of the federal code they believe the former president may have violated.
“It’s difficult to overstate how much this reeks of criminal intent on the part of the former guy,” wrote Conway last July, tweeting a commonly used nickname for Trump. He shortened it to “tfg” a few hours later:
“As for 18 USC § 610, it doesn’t contain specific-intent language like ‘knowingly’ or ‘willfully,’ but presumably prosecutors would have to show tfg knew he wasn’t coercing the DOJ folks to engage in legitimate, non-political law-enforcement scrutiny.”
READ MORE: Jan 6. Committee Report on Mark Meadows Is a ‘Blueprint of a Coup’: WaPo Columnist
18 U.S. Code § 610 is the federal law dealing with “Coercion of political activity.”
Conway added: “It’s huge all around. These guys were telling him it was all bullshit, and he didn’t care. Instead he just kept pressuring them to lie.”
Last week Laurence Tribe tweeted: “DOJ must now investigate Trump and Meadows for the crime of witness tampering under 18 USC 1512(b), punishable by fines and up to 20 years in prison.”
And just an hour ago Tribe proposed another federal law the Dept. of Justice should consider.
“DOJ absolutely must look at 18 USC 373 wrt Trump and the mob he sought to ‘persuade’ to do physical harm to people and property. It’s not the sexiest federal offense but it fits like a glove.”
On June 16 Tribe wrote: “18 USC 1751c makes attempted murder of the Vice President a crime punishable by life imprisonment. What we saw during today’s hearing sure looked like that crime. Trump’s role in whipping up the would-be assassins was impossible to miss.”
Just three days earlier Tribe said, “So it turns out that there was plenty of fraud in the 2020 election. But it wasn’t VOTER fraud. No, it was WIRE fraud — through Trump’s scheme to raise tens of millions of dollars from supporters by claiming the election was stolen. Penalty? Up to 20 yrs under 18 USC § 1343.”
And minutes before that, this bombshell:
“Today’s testimony opens a new possibility: charging Trump not only with seditious conspiracy (18 USC 2384), inciting insurrection (2383), defrauding the US (371) & obstructing a congressional proceeding (1505) but also wire fraud (18 USC 1343): fleecing ordinary citizens of $$$$$.”