President Donald Trump is seen on a screen talking to supporters during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, January 6, 2021.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
A federal judge ordered ex-President Donald Trump’s former aides, including his ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows, to testify before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, NBC News reported Friday.
In a sealed order, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled against Trump’s bid to dam his aides from talking to the grand jury on the grounds of executive privilege, people acquainted with the matter told NBC. Executive privilege is the legal doctrine that enables for some executive-branch communications to be kept confidential.
NBC’s sources said the opposite aides affected by the ruling are former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, former national security advisor Robert O’Brien, former senior aide Stephen Miller, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, former deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, former assistant Nick Luna and former White House Presidential Personnel Office director John McEntee.
Trump is predicted to appeal the ruling, which was filed in secret since it involves grand jury matters, in line with NBC.
Howell delivered the ruling last week, in line with ABC News, which first reported the sealed order.
Meadows and other aides were reportedly subpoenaed earlier within the 12 months by Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice to oversee two Trump-related criminal investigations, including the Jan. 6-centric probe.
Smith can also be leading an investigation into the classified documents that were sent to Trump’s private residence in Florida, in addition to the possible obstruction of that investigation.
The developments within the special counsel’s case got here as Trump railed against the Manhattan district attorney, whose separate probe of Trump recently appeared to enter its final stages. Trump wrongly predicted he could be arrested Tuesday on charges stemming from the probe, which centers on a 2016 hush money payment to a porn star who alleges she had an affair with Trump.
Trump can also be facing a legal threat in Georgia, where a Fulton County grand jury is investigating efforts by him and his allies to interfere within the 2020 election in that state. Trump narrowly lost that contest to President Joe Biden.
Days before Congress convened to substantiate Biden’s overall presidential victory, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and urged him to “find” enough votes to reverse the final result.
Meadows was on that decision, and was near Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob of the then-president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and temporarily halted the peaceful transfer of power.
