Mark Meadows reportedly told Biden’s henchmen that he didn’t recall any effort made by Trump to declassify documents before leaving the White House.
Obviously this seems to contradict what Trump and his lawyer said about the classified documents.
Here’s more via ABC News:
Appearing to contradict former President Donald Trump’s primary public defense in the classified documents case, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has told special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators that he could not recall Trump ever ordering, or even discussing, declassifying broad sets of classified materials before leaving the White House, nor was he aware of any “standing order” from Trump authorizing the automatic declassification of materials taken out of the Oval Office, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
“An early draft of the prologue to Meadows’ book…”
ABC News has also reviewed an early draft of the prologue to Meadows’ book, “The Chief’s Chief,” about his time serving as Trump’s chief of staff for the final months of the Trump White House, which includes a description of Trump having a classified war plan “on the couch” at his office in Bedminster, New Jersey, at a meeting attended by Meadows’ ghostwriter and publicist, but not by Meadows himself. The reference to that document being in Trump’s possession was removed before the book was published.
Multiple sources tell ABC News Meadows acknowledged to investigators that he asked that the paragraph be changed, and that it would be “problematic” had Trump had such a document in his possession. Sources tell ABC News that Meadows told special counsel investigators that he did not discuss making those edits with Trump.
“Meadows was not involved in packing the boxes…”
Meadows also told investigators that he was not involved in packing the boxes that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, sources told ABC News, largely distancing himself from the removal of government documents, including classified materials. The sources said Meadows told investigators he did not witness Trump himself packing boxes and was unaware that Trump had taken any government records, including classified documents.
The former chief of staff also told investigators that shortly after the National Archives first requested the return of the official documents taken to Mar-a-Lago in 2021, he offered to Trump that he would go through the former president’s boxes to retrieve the official records and send them back to Washington. Meadows told investigators Trump did not accept his offer, according to sources.
More on the classified war plan at Bedminster…
Smith’s team has also questioned other witnesses about the references to the war plan document that were dropped from the early draft of Meadows’ book, sources say. According to sources, a previous draft of the book written by Meadows’ ghostwriter — who, along with the book’s publicist, was present at the meeting with Trump at Bedminster in July 2021 — specifically referenced a four-page war plan the president was heard referring to in an audio recording from the meeting that he claimed had been produced by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. Meadows himself was not at the meeting.
In the final version of Meadows’ book, “The Chief’s Chief,” released in late 2021, the Bedminster exchange comes up in the prologue where it says Trump “recalls a four-page report typed up by Milley himself.”
“It contained the general’s own plan to attack Iran, deploying massive numbers of troops, something he urged President Trump to do more than once during his presidency,” Meadows’ book says.
But a draft version of the passage initially sent to Meadows by his ghostwriter, which was reviewed by ABC News, more directly referenced the document allegedly in Trump’s possession during the interview.
“On the couch in front of the President’s desk, there’s a four-page report typed up by Mark Milley himself,” the draft reads. “It shows the general’s own plan to attack Iran, something he urged President Trump to do more than once during his presidency. … When President Trump found this plan in his old files this morning, he pointed out that if he had been able to make this declassified, it would probably ‘win his case.'”
Sources told ABC News that Meadows was questioned by Smith’s investigators about the changes made to the language in the draft, and Meadows claimed, according to the sources, that he personally edited it out because he didn’t believe at the time that Trump would have possessed a document like that at Bedminster.
Meadows also said that if it were true Trump did indeed have such a document, it would be “problematic” and “concerning,” sources familiar with the exchange said. Meadows said his perspective changed on whether his ghostwriter’s recollection could have been accurate, given the later revelations about the classified materials recovered from Mar-a-Lago in the months since his book was published, the sources said.
None of this sounds good for Trump. But it must be pointed out that Meadows admitted he was not part of the boxing of documents at the White House and because of that he may not have known that Trump declassified them, assuming he did. But the fact that he couldn’t recall Trump making such an effort could make it more difficult for Trump to prove it in court, if they choose to go that route. That is not an argument his legal team has made, thus far. You would think that if anyone would know of Trump declassifying documents, it would be his chief of staff.