NY Times: Meadows Got Immunity in Jan. 6 Case

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was, in fact, granted immunity to testify under oath in the Jan. 6 case against former President Donald Trump regarding the 2020 presidential election, The New York Times reported Thursday.

According to the Times, an immunity order was signed for Meadows on March 20 by Chief Judge James Boasberg of the District Court in Washington. Meadows then spoke extensively to federal investigators in special counsel Jack Smith's office before testifying for more than six hours before a federal grand jury the next day, the Times reported.

The Times' report affirmed reports from October that Meadows had received immunity, reports that were denied by Meadows and his attorney. ABC News published its report on Oct. 24 and CBS News followed with its immunity report on Oct. 25 but with a statement from Meadows attorney George Terwilliger III: "I told ABC that their story was largely inaccurate. People will have to judge for themselves the decision to run it anyway."

ABC News reported then that Meadows told federal prosecutors that Trump's claims of a stolen election were baseless and that Trump was "dishonest" with the public on claims that he won the 2020 election. Meadows' assertions to federal prosecutors contradicted his own book, "The Chief's Chief," which quickly prompted a lawsuit from his publishing house.

Smith charged Trump in August with four felony counts for attempting to interfere in the counting of votes and trying to block the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty.

Trump's trial, originally slated to begin March 4, was postponed while his appeal on immunity coursed through the federal appeals process. An appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Trump does not have immunity. Trump is mulling whether to ask the full D.C. Circuit Court to consider his appeal or go directly to the Supreme Court.

Regardless, awaiting Trump is what Meadows, the "least trusted man in Washington," according to the New York Times' headline, would testify to on the witness stand.

"Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future our Failing Nation. I don't think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows?" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 24.