Attorneys for Donald Trump, the former president, are now in direct talks with officials from the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
CNN in its breaking news exclusive calls it “the first sign of talks between the two sides as the criminal probe into January 6, 2021, accelerates.”
“The talks revolve around whether Trump would be able to shield conversations he had while he was president from federal investigators,” including “whether any communications that witnesses from the Trump West Wing had with the former president can be kept from a federal criminal grand jury under Trump’s claims of executive privilege.”
Legal experts generally default to executive privilege resting with the sitting U.S. president, but DOJ has also not prosecuted former top Trump officials, including Mark Meadows, after Congress voted to convict him on contempt charges for not cooperating with the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack’s investigation.
“Mark Meadows could be a key witness,” CNN reveals.
“Trump has specifically been counseled to cut contact with his former White House chief of staff,” CNN adds, “whose actions leading up to and on the day of the US Capitol insurrection have been deeply scrutinized by the House panel.”
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“In recent months,” CNN states, “the former President has ignored advice from some of his advisers to avoid speaking with former and current aides who have become entangled in the House select committee’s probe into January 6 and may become part of the criminal investigation, people familiar with the matter told CNN.”
NYU professor of law and former Special Counsel at the Dept. of Defense, Ryan Goodman, pointing to the Meadows news offered this insight: “Sounds like Trump team worried Meadows will flip and cooperate with DOJ.”