As the Department of Justice's special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump's involvement in the January 6 Capitol riot, some legal experts are speculating that members of Trump's inner circle have already turned on him and begun cooperating with the probe.

Citing the cache of evidence released by the January 6 House committee this week, attorney Ryan Goodman, who previously served as the special counsel to the general counsel of the Department of Defense, said it's likely that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has "flipped" to avoid facing his own charges.

A transcribed interview with former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson revealed that Meadows' spokesperson, Ben Williamson, had called Hutchinson ahead of her deposition with the House panel and advised her to avoid recalling much.

"He said something to the effect of, 'Well, Mark wants me to let you know that he knows you're loyal and he knows you'll do the right thing tomorrow and that you're going to protect him and the boss,'" Hutchinson told the House panel.
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The report's executive summary mentioned, "Certain witnesses and lawyers were unnecessarily combative, answered hundreds of questions with variants of 'I do not recall' in circumstances where that answer seemed unbelievable."

Goodman called the revelation "Essentially Exhibit One for the trial of Mark Meadows for witness tampering."

"With this kind of criminal exposure, it's easy to imagine Meadows has flipped and is cooperating with the Justice Department." Goodman tweeted on Thursday, adding that using Hutchinson's testimony, "DOJ should be able to squeeze [Meadows] (and Ben Williamson)."

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani agreed, saying, "If Meadows tried to tamper with witnesses or otherwise obstruct justice, that gives [Special Counsel Jack] Smith leverage he can use to pressure Meadows to cooperate to avoid indictment or receive a reduced sentence."

"What Trump said and what was said to him 'gets inside his head' and is direct evidence of Trump's knowledge that 'stop the steal' was fraudulent," Rahmani told Newsweek. "Witnesses like Hope Hicks and potentially Mark Meadows can testify that Trump intended to declare himself the winner no matter what.

The final report from the January 6 committee has renewed concerns for Trump that those closest to him would expose him to avoid being prosecuted by the DOJ.

Meadows, Trump and four others have been referred to the DOJ for criminal charges for their part to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The referrals are a symbolic move as the decision to pursue criminal charges would ultimately be left to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is not obliged to consider the referrals.

Earlier this year, Meadows had been held in contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with the House probe. However, the DOJ declined to pursue charges.

Constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe agreed with Goodman on Thursday, tweeting, "Unless he's more worried about Trump's heavily armed Proud Boys and Oath Keepers than about spending years in the federal slammer, Mark Meadows must be cooperating with Jack Smith already!"

Newsweek contacted Meadows for comment.

Update: 12/22/22 3:13 p.m. ET: