Mark Meadows refused to name the former Cabinet officials he says met at former President Donald Trump’s golf club in New Jersey last week.
The former White House chief of staff declined to get into specifics on Monday as he dismissed the media firestorm that ensued after he said “Cabinet members” were gathering, which some took to be a reference to some alt-presidency as Trump claims the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Trump and his close allies, including Meadows, also face increased scrutiny with the release of notes showing the former president pressed top Justice Department officials to declare the 2020 as election “corrupt” during his efforts to overturn the results and the start of the House’s select committee investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Meadows told Newsmax he “obviously” was referring to Cabinet members from “previous times” during his interview on the cable news network last Thursday,
“Even if I was just referring to his own kitchen cabinet, we’re talking about what we need to do to keep the ‘America First’ agenda going forward,” Meadows quipped, referring to Trump’s preferred policies.
“I can tell you that it’s not hard to improve on [President] Joe Biden and his abysmal record in terms of the economy, in terms of the border, in terms of everything that is happening. We were talking about that. We were talking about how we’re going to engage in 2022 and 2024. Millions of Americans want President Trump to run again and be in the White House, and obviously, that did come up at that conversation,” he added.
MARK MEADOWS SAYS ‘CABINET MEMBERS’ MEETING AT TRUMP’S NEW JERSEY GOLF CLUB
Newsmax host Greg Kelly commiserated with Meadows, opining the media reaction was overblown but asked the former Trump official if he would divulge who was present.
“I’m not going to list the number of people that were there,” Meadows said after complimenting Kelly for being “really good” following the question. “But there were a couple of former Cabinet members that actually joined us for dinner that particular night.”
Meadows then repeated the meetings were geared toward future elections and Trump’s policy “accomplishments.” He also said there are a lot of people, “not just former Cabinet members,” who “really want him to be in the White House because it was better for them and certainly better for America.”
Last week, when speaking to Newsmax host Steve Cortes, a former Trump adviser, Meadows stressed the discussions focused on “plans to move forward in a real way” with Trump leading the effort. He also cautioned he was “not authorized to speak on behalf of the president.”
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His choice of words, mainly in saying “Cabinet members” were meeting, made waves at a time when some Trump allies claim, without presenting evidence for a real path forward, that the former president can be reinstated in the White House, including My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell.
“I can’t stop thinking about this interview. The former chief of staff is talking as if there’s a shadow presidency going on (there isn’t) at a time when there’s a conspiracy theory that Trump will be reinstated (he won’t) and as Trump has urged some advisers to keep saying it,” tweeted New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
