Mark Meadows was a “ringleader” in the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, according to a top adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence.
Marc Short, who served as Pence’s chief of staff, weighed in on Meadows’ legal predicament during an appearance on “CNN Primetime” on Tuesday.
Meadows, who served as Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, was indicted earlier this month under Georgia’s racketeering statutes along with the former president and 17 other allies over an alleged conspiracy to change the state’s 2020 election results.
“I don’t think any of us relish witnessing what’s happening to any of these people that we worked with,” Short said on CNN. “I think it’s fair to say that, you know, Mark was a ringleader of much of the events that happened around January 6.”
Short noted that in the weeks leading up to the U.S. Capitol attack, Pence repeatedly insisted that he did not have the authority to overturn the election results, despite pressure from Trump and his allies.
Meadows was “central to pulling together” attorneys who were giving different advice to White House counsel and “whispering falsehoods into the president’s ear,” Short said.
Short suggested Meadows might have cooperated with prosecutors in the federal case, noting that he was not charged or identified as a co-conspirator in Trump’s federal indictment despite his key role in the scheme.
Meadows has sought to move his Georgia case to federal court, arguing his actions were part of his work in the White House.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Tuesday rejected his request to have his voluntary surrender deadline extended past Friday in order to allow a court to rule the motion to move his case.