Mark Meadows' alleged crimes are far worse than Nixon hatchet man HR Haldeman's, says expert on White House chiefs of staff
Getty Images
- Mark Meadows' alleged crimes are worse than Watergate figure HR "Bob Haldeman," an expert says.
- Chris Whipple, an expert on White House chiefs of staff, said it was entirely predictable how Meadows got indicted.
- Whipple thinks it's beyond clear now that Meadows will be remembered as the worst chief.
Mark Meadows' alleged crimes have now squarely secured his place in history among the most infamous White House chief of staff, an expert on the powerful post told Insider.
"For Mark Meadows, it's really a day of reckoning that's been coming for a long time," Chris Whipple, whose book Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency is considered the tome on the subject, told Insider.
Meadows, Whipple added, "may be on the same track" as Nixon White House chief of staff HR "Bob" Haldeman to become the second former White House chief of staff to serve prison time. Haldeman served 18 months in a minimum-security federal prison for his role in the botched Watergate cover-up.
It is a stunning fall for Meadows, a former North Carolina congressman, who as NBC's Stephanie Ruhle summed up, went from giving up an influential perch in Congress to contracting COVID-19, possibly from Trump, and now facing serious charges over his role in trying to overturn the election.
Whipple said Meadows stands accused of doing far worse things than Haldeman, who was convicted of perjury, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.
"It's really because from being complicit in Donald Trump's attempt to pretend there was no pandemic with disastrous results to a conspiracy to overthrow a free and fair election, Meadows was absolutely a key if not the key player," Whipple said. "I think in particular when it comes to the attempt to overthrow the election, he was in it up to his eyeballs."
Fulton County District Attorney charged Meadows, former President Donald Trump, and 16 other co-defendants with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute in their efforts to try to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election results. Meadows is also facing a separate charge for his participation in Trump's infamous call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During their conversation, then-President Trump pressured Raffensperger "to find 11,780 votes."
Whipple spoke to Insider in the wake of Meadows' criminal indictment. Whipple has regarded the North Carolina Republican harshly before, most recently referring to Meadows as Trump's "lapdog." Nonetheless, as someone who has interviewed dozens of former chiefs of staff, Whipple knows what it takes to fulfill what former chief James Baker has called "the second most powerful job in Washington."
"He became the chief of staff Trump desperately wanted, he was the ultimate sycophant," Whipple said of Meadows. "There was no command no matter how sketchy or even illegal evidently that Meadows wouldn't happily carry it out. And now we see where that leads."
A representative for Meadows did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Willis told reporters Monday evening that Meadows and the other co-defendants have until August 25 to surrender to Georgia authorities.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
Meadows, as Whipple has said before, faced the thankless task of trying to be Trump's chief of staff. The former president churned through a historic rate of chiefs in his single term. Even by that standard, Whipple said Meadows still fell short.
"I think being Donald Trump's White House chief of staff was Mission Impossible," Whipple said. "Meadows is not the only one who failed, he's just the one who failed most spectacularly."
Cassidy Hutchinson, one of Meadows' top aides, painted a damning portrait of Trump's final chief of staff to the House January 6 committee. Meadows initially turned over some documents to the committee, but he was later held in contempt after he stopped cooperating. Special counsel Jack Smith has thus far only charged Trump for his efforts to overturn the election. Meadows is also not among the other unindicted co-conspirators in Smith's case, leading to speculation that the former chief of staff could be cooperating with federal investigators.
Whatever the case may be, Whipple said at this point that Meadows can only redeem his reputation if he cooperates with the investigations.
"If I were Mark Meadows I would tell my attorney to get on the phone with Fani Willis and offer to cooperate here and tell her everything he knows," Whipple said. "I think that would be something he could do that would salvage his place in history, because otherwise, as I say, he goes down as the worst White House chief without a doubt."
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/XbLW5NU
No comments