A legal expert expects that some in former President Donald Trump’s inner circle could cooperate with the Department of Justice (DOJ) if charges are filed against the former president.
The January 6 House Select Committee announced several criminal referrals at the culmination of its 18-month investigation last week. Trump was chief among those referred, with the committee urging the DOJ to file charges against Trump for alleged insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to make false statements and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.
Also referred for charges were John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Trump; Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s chief of staff for part of his presidency; Rudy Giuliani, a member of Trump’s legal team and former New York City mayor; Kenneth Cheseboro, a lawyer who advised Trump; and Jeffrey Clark, an assistant attorney general during the U.S. Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
So far, no charges have been filed by the DOJ. Of those referred with Trump, several could cooperate with the DOJ to protect themselves, according to Harry Litman, a lawyer, political commentator and former DOJ official.
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Litman appeared Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show” to speak about the situation and identified key members of Trump’s inner circle most likely to turn on if the referred charges are pursued by the DOJ.
Litman said he expects anywhere from six to 10 of Trump’s allies to be “very well-suited” as cooperating defendants, including several referred for criminal charges by the House select committee.
“Normally in a setting like this, it’s a race to the prosecutor’s office for them because there’s a real advantage to being first,” Litman said.
Litman named Meadows, Eastman and Clark as being “tailor-made” to be cooperators, but that there were plenty of “co-conspirators to go around.”
“This, like so much else with Trump, is kind of a unique situation. Will they actually be the ‘et, tu, Rudy?’ persons?” Litman said, speculating that some of Trump’s friends could betray him.
Other legal experts have marked Meadows as a likely cooperating witness. This month, attorney and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner appeared on an episode of “The Legal Breakdown” with Brian Cohen and said Meadows could be the key the DOJ needs to further investigate the referred charges.
Congress has already accused Meadows of being in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the House select committee, and Kirschner speculated that the DOJ might be delaying filing any charges so it can further glean information from Meadows.
Newsweek reached out to the DOJ for comment.