- Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows spoke with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigators
- ABC News reported that he told them he had no recollection of former President Donald Trump declassifying a trove of documents
- A draft of Meadows’ memoir included a reference to Trump having a classified war plan ‘on the couch’ at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club
Ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigators that he had no recollection of former President Donald Trump declassifying classified documents before departing the White House.
ABC News reported Sunday morning that Meadows testified that he was unaware of any ‘standing order’ from Trump to declassify a broad range of classified documents that were taken to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home and private club.
Since last August’s FBI raid of the property, Trump has pushed that he declassified all the documents that he moved out of the White House.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 criminal charges related to the mishandling of classified materials.
ABC also obtained an early draft of Meadows’ memoir, The Chief’s Chief, which included a description of Trump having a classified war plan ‘on the couch’ of his office in Bedminster, New Jersey, when he was meeting with Meadows’ ghostwriter and publicist.
That reference was deleted by the time the book was published.
ABC’s sources said Meadows acknowledged to investigators that he had asked for that paragraph to be removed from the book because it would be ‘problematic’ that Trump possessed that document.
Meadows also told the special counsel’s investigators that he did not discuss making those edits with Trump, the network reported.
The initial indictment in the classified documents case referenced a conversation Trump had with a writer and publisher working on a Meadows’ book on July 21, 2021.