Trump allies are raging about 'rat' Mark Meadows in group chats behind his back: reporter

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has long been suspected by both outside observers and members of Trump's inner circle to be cooperating with prosecutors over the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election — and Trump's associates in particular are privately raging and branding him a "rat," said Rolling Stone politics reporter Nikki McCann Ramirez on Friday's edition of MSNBC's "All In."

This comes as Meadows, who managed to avoid charges in the federal Jack Smith probe, was indicted as part of the Georgia racketeering case into election interference in that state — and fights to have that case removed to federal court.

"Several advisers in Trump's inner circle viewed Meadows as a potential fall guy for the investigations into the former president," Ramirez told anchor Chris Hayes. "Of course, as you said, he wasn't indicted by Smith. Then in this Georgia case, compared to his co-defendants, some people think he got off a little lightly, when you compare the charges. Of course, for the Trump team, this is just fueling suspicion that Meadows is cooperating with prosecutors."

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"That's interesting," said Hayes. "It's also interesting that he moved so quickly and first. And that basically the argument was, look, I was just doing this in my official duties. Which of course is — this is, I'm doing thing for Donald Trump. He's the principal, and the agent."

"Yeah, of course," said Ramirez. "There is the sense among Trump's advisers, and I think amongst other people potentially involved in this conspiracy, that Mark Meadows is a rat. Rolling Stone reported earlier this year that several advisers, and people in Trump's circle, had started referring to Meadows with a rat emoji, instead of his name, in text messages. I think at this point we know that former President Trump doesn't really make the distinction between a someone who is legally obligated to participate in an investigation, and someone who is voluntarily cooperating. At this point, Meadows has done both."

"I think Trump sees Meadows as someone who is providing ammunition to the prosecution, whether it be voluntary or not," Ramirez continued. "Trump, of course, is not the kind of person who forgives that kind of thing. In fact, he's the kind of person who will try to punish someone for it. I think if these other co-defendants get that sense that Trump is looking for fall guys, is looking for someone to off-load this case on to, and be like, I was just filing legal challenges. These other people got out of hand. I think not only Meadows, but other defendants are going to try to separate out their case, separate themselves out from this debacle."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Nikki McCann Ramirez says Trump aides are raging at "rat" Mark Meadows www.youtube.com