MSNBC host Joe Scarborough issued a stark warning to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday, claiming that if he did not flip on former President Donald Trump, he would have no choice but to find himself “a really, really good criminal defense attorney.”
Scarborough was responding to the testimony from Tuesday’s surprise witness — Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson — who appeared before the January 6th Committee and claimed that Trump had attempted to get to the Capitol after the crowd marched in that direction. She then alleged that he had gotten combative with Secret Service agents — a point that was contested by the Secret Service — when they prevented him from doing so.
And Scarborough argued on Wednesday that Hutchinson’s testimony also damaged Meadows — particularly if he continued to defend his former boss.
WATCH:
"He will throw you under the bus. He will stab you in the back. He will let you rot in jail. Defend the country. Or, well, get ready to pay a criminal defense attorney a lot of money," Joe Scarborough warns Mark Meadows. pic.twitter.com/8uiPUOed7F
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) June 29, 2022
Scarborough gave a “Howard Cosell” description of how he saw the situation playing out based on the testimony that had been presented thus far.
“The play-by-play is Donald Trump knew there were heavily armed rioters that were moving towards his speech. He wanted Secret Service to take down the mags, let them in, and then Donald Trump volunteers and then they can go straight to the Capitol. Wanting them to go to the Capitol and not have their weapons taken away,” Scarborough explained, citing claims that Trump had asked Secret Service not to prevent armed supporters from attending his speech and suggesting that the president’s intent was to ensure that they were still armed when they marched to the Capitol.
“He wanted to go there with them. They talked about going to the House of Representatives, with this mob, and Donald Trump strutting in like a Benito Mussolini declaring himself the next President of the United States,” he continued, before turning to address Meadows directly.
“Mark Meadows, hey, Mark, I’ve known you for a long time, buddy, you’re in deep sh*t,” Scarborough said. “You’re in the middle of this conspiracy. You may want to get yourself a really, really good defense attorney … Oh, wait, here’s an idea, Mark. You can do something that you’ve refused to do for years now. You can show courage and you can tell the truth. Hey. Mark. Donald Trump won’t protect you. He will throw you under the bus. He will stab you in the back. He will let you rot in jail. Defend the country. Or, well, get ready to pay a criminal defense attorney a lot of money.”