NO PENTANGELI, HE:

Meadows is viewed as a critical witness to Smith's investigation. He was ordered to testify before the grand jury and to provide documents after a judge rejected Trump's claims of executive privilege.

His testimony could provide investigators key insight into the former president's actions and mental state following the election he lost to Joe Biden as well as into Trump's actions after he left office in January 2021.

CNN previously reported that Meadows, under subpoena, turned over some materials to the Justice Department as part of their investigation.

Multiple sources told CNN last week that Smith has focused on a meeting related to Meadows as part of his criminal investigation into Trump's handling of documents. Two people working on the former chief of staff's autobiography attended a meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July 2021 where Trump acknowledged he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, the sources said. The meeting was recorded, but it is unknown from where the Justice Department first obtained the recording. Meadows didn't attend the meeting.

A source close to Trump's legal team told CNN earlier in May that Trump's lawyers had had no contact with Meadows and his team and were in the dark on what Meadows is doing in the investigation. Meadows' silence has irked lawyers representing other defendants aligned with Trump who have been more open, several sources familiar with the Trump-aligned legal teams said at the time. In particular, they pointed to a $900,000 payment Trump's Save America political action committee paid to the firm representing Meadows, McGuireWoods, at the end of last year.

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