'Very ominous' statement from Mark Meadows' lawyer should unnerve Trump: CNN's Evan Perez

CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez believes former President Donald Trump should start worrying about his one-time chief of staff cooperating with federal prosecutors.

In breaking down news that former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has testified before a grand jury convened by special counsel Jack Smith, Perez pointed to a statement given by Meadows' attorney as particularly worrisome for the former president.

"We have a statement from his lawyer which will make the hairs on the neck of Donald Trump's team stand, frankly, because it's very ominous," he said. "He doesn't confirm that Mark Meadows has testified in front of the grand jury, but he says this: 'Mark Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.' Again, if you're the trump team... it doesn't sound very good to them."

Perez also reminded viewers just how central Meadows was in Trump's efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

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"Mark Meadows is arguably the biggest witness," he said. "He was there when the former president was formulating his effort to try to stay in office despite losing the election. He was involved in trying to tell members of Congress that there was this plan -- you saw some of the text messages from the January 6 Committee investigation. He outlined the plan... try to get states to send alternate electors and try to make sure that the former president could remain in office."

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