Mark Meadows tests positive 鈥� for stupid
Mark Meadows was Donald Trump鈥檚 fourth chief of staff.
His job?
While Trump ran his mouth, Meadows ran the White House.
He now has the unenviable task of running through a legal minefield, while trying to avoid getting out of the good graces of his former boss.
So far, he鈥檚 losing on both fronts.
His problems began back on Nov. 30, when he agreed to go before that congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The very next day, excerpts from Meadows鈥� upcoming book (鈥淭he Chief鈥檚 Chief鈥�) revealed that Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 (without acknowledging it), just before his first debate with Joe Biden on Sept. 20, 2020.
Trump heard about the excerpts, and he did what he always does when he isn鈥檛 made the star of a news development 鈥� he called it 鈥渇ake news.鈥�
Meadows, sensing he was about to be excommunicated from Team Trump, made a beeline to that right-wing station 鈥� Newsmax 鈥� and he reassessed his book, by also calling it 鈥渇ake news.鈥�
(Imagine that. He gave his own book a bad review, even before it hit bookshelves.)
Then, Meadows decided he didn鈥檛 need any parts of that congressional committee.
He announced he wouldn鈥檛 answer any of its questions.
He filed suit against the Jan. 6. committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
He has some gall, doesn鈥檛 he?
Lots of gall, but little judgment.
His claims of executive privilege being the reason not to testify before the committee don鈥檛 stand up to scrutiny.
After he originally agreed to appear before the committee, he sent it 9,000 pages of his texts and emails.
Plus, he was about to release his book, and he鈥檚 been all over right-wing television talking about his time in the White House.
He stopped just short of taking the word of his White House experiences door-to-door.
He鈥檚 most likely thrown any claims of 鈥減rivileged communications鈥� with Trump out the window.
And that was before the committee acted.
Committee members started releasing the contents of some of those 9,000 pages 鈥� as some sort of shot over the bow.
As the insurrection progressed on Jan. 6, those folks over at Fox News wanted to alert Meadows of the impending doom caused by the rioters.
Brian Kilmeade sent out a plea. 鈥淧lease get him (Trump) on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,鈥� he wrote in a text.
Sean Hannity said what millions of people were thinking while watching the events at the Capitol on their TVs.
鈥淐an he make a statement, ask people to leave the Capital,鈥� he said in a text to Meadows.
Another text, a more troubling one, came from Fox News superstar Laura Ingraham. 鈥淢ark, the President needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us,鈥� wrote Ingraham.
You have to wonder what she meant when she wrote, 鈥淭his is hurting all of us.鈥�
Was she implying that the 鈥渦s鈥� meant that she was in league with the Trump administration?
Ingraham is the host of a TV show. She isn鈥檛 part of any governmental 鈥渦s,鈥� as far as I know.
But in July, Ingraham took the time on her show to downplay the severity of the insurrection.
鈥淭here was certainly a lot of violence. But it was not a terrorist attack. It wasn鈥檛 9/11. It wasn鈥檛 the worst thing that happened in America. It wasn鈥檛 an insurrection,鈥� she said as if she hadn鈥檛 sounded the alarm on Jan. 6.
After the release of the original text messages, committee members were going ahead with their move to hold Meadows in contempt for refusing to appear as requested.
And while holding their hearing, they also announced that amid the text messages from Fox News, they also found communications from members of Congress on that fateful day in January.
An embarrassing development. But not nearly the most embarrassing one.
That took place last Tuesday night when the members of the full House voted 222-208 to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress.
And Meadows caused it all.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.