Has Mark Meadows shopped Trump to the Justice Department?

The speculation in Trumpworld surrounding Mark Meadows, and whether the former congressman and White House chief of staff handed Special Counsel Jack Smith the tools he needed to indict the former president, continues to rise. 

It’s already known that Meadows’s staff was the source of an audio recording where the former president made comments about the classified documents he took from the White House — they recorded an interview in July 2021 at Bedminster for Meadows’s memoir about his time in the White House, The Chief’s Chief, which you can purchase at Amazon in hardcover for a very modest $8.07. Trump discussed a document, one that he said he ought to have declassified before leaving the White House, about potentially attacking Iran.

That Meadows would turn over this evidence is consistent with his approach — he had been generally forthcoming with text messages and document requests on other fronts, before the January 6 Committee decided to leak all of the text messages he handed over in an entirely predictable smear campaign.

That penchant for answering honestly has some close to Trump — even the man himself — concerned. As the New York Times reported this week, Meadows had kept “largely out of sight” and “some of Mr. Trump’s advisors believe he could be a significant witness in the inquiries. Mr. Trump himself has at times asked aides questions about how Mr. Meadows is doing.”

Given the level of access Meadows had to Trump, even after leaving office, there is widespread speculation that this recording could be just one piece of evidence among many — and that the former “Chief’s Chief” might have given the DoJ the goods that led to the indictment. We’ll have to wait and see…

MAGA outlet poll shows Ron gaining on Don since announcing

Awkward! American Greatness, the ostensibly pro-Trump media outlet, has commissioned several polls that look really favorable for the former president’s chances in the 2024 GOP primary. Except a new poll dropped Thursday that shows Trump’s lead in the Iowa caucus shrunk pretty considerably since Florida governor Ron DeSantis officially announced his candidacy. Trump is still up on DeSantis by fifteen, but that’s down from the eighteen percentage point lead he held last month.

Senator Tim Scott gained four points in the poll, while a whopping one-fifth of Republican Iowa voters are undecided.

Team Trump is still touting the poll as a big win, even as he dropped five points overall since last month.

No flaming homosexuals on the White House lawn

At the last minute, the White House postponed a Thursday event on the South Lawn to commemorate Pride, citing air quality issues from the Canadian wildfires as the main reason. The decision to delay initially appeared to be fairly last minute: press passes for the event were approved Thursday morning, and notice of its cancellation was only sent out via a pool report, as opposed to updating the daily guidance.

But performers who were scheduled to attend the event were informed of its cancellation on Monday, per an email seen by Cockburn. The event was due to take place Thursday evening — long past Biden’s bedtime. So why were the performers told three days prior?

Cockburn wonders whether the smog offered convenient cover for the Biden White House to cry off, in what is proving to be the most contentious Pride month yet. Would a snap of 46 with drag queens or Dylan Mulvaney have done the president any favors with swing voters as he heads into the next election cycle?

Harry and Meghan can’t be bothered to write thank-you notes

After jet-setting to the UK and back for a quick coronation and a string of court dates, it appears that Prince Harry has little time for anything else. Like putting pen to paper. “Just Harry,” you know, the normal, salt-of-the-earth guy has someone to write correspondence from the family. 

“On behalf of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke, and Duchess of Sussex, please accept their sincere thanks for the thoughtful gift you sent to Prince Archie for his fourth birthday,” reads one heavily monogrammed letter to the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Bike Shop in Montecito, which was posted on Instagram.

“The bike has brought much joy and is most appreciated by the family. They asked that I convey their gratitude at the lovely surprise,” writes some fella called Harrison Colcord, from the “Office of Prince Harry and Meghan.”

The owners of Mad Dogs & Englishmen Bike Shop in Montecito, California, gifted neighbors Meghan and Harry with the present for Archie’s fourth birthday in May. “We hope they don’t mind us sharing this lovely thank you letter we received today!” the shop wrote. (They almost certainly do not.) 

Now the only question is whether Old Harry can find the time in his busy schedule to teach Archie to ride it — or does one have staff on call to do that too?

An earlier version of this article mistakenly claimed that American Greatness had misquoted Ron DeSantis twice. In fact, it was the Florida Politics website that had done so. Cockburn regrets the error.