The Georgia secretary of state’s office said it had just 45 minutes notice of Meadows’ arrival in Cobb County, and it barred him from the room where state investigators were examining the absentee ballot signatures. A day earlier, Trump had publicly complained that the audit was moving too slowly after making baseless claims that Georgia’s signature verification system is rife with fraud.
Meadows’ trip set in motion a series of meetings and conversations in a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies that culminated in a Jan. 2 phone call in which Trump told Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” the votes he needed to win. That call, joined by Meadows and others, is now the central focus of an Atlanta investigation into whether Trump and his allies criminally interfered in the 2020 election in an attempt to overturn his Georgia loss to Democrat Joe Biden, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Meadows’ trip also highlights the top aide’s prominent role in the events under investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. He was among the eight participants identified in the Jan. 2 call, according to a transcript, and he kicked off the call with introductions of everyone on it. Meadows later pressed Georgia officials on the call for access to legally private voter information, a request they denied, the transcript shows.
A person with direct knowledge of the district attorney’s investigation told Reuters the office is likely to issue subpoenas for evidence to most or all of the call participants.