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As in any good grift, some individuals and companies tried to materially benefit from the Big Lie that the 2020 election was somehow stolen from Donald Trump. And while many of them seem to have gotten away with that (for now), others are finding out that actions have consequences.
The former president and the GOP, for example, collected nearly $300 million from gullible supporters to “stop the steal,” but only used less than 5 percent of that money on litigation to contest the results of the election.
Fox News, in an effort to staunch a loss of viewers to even more right-wing TV networks, knowingly spread disinformation and conspiracy theories, including about Dominion Voting Systems.
While there have been no consequences for the former for duping donors, the latter had to pay nearly $1 billion to settle a lawsuit with the voting machine manufacturer.
And then there is former White House Chief of Staff Mike Meadows.
He cashed in on his time in the Trump administration by writing a book about it. Not surprisingly, The Chief’s Chief spends a fair bit of time reflecting on the election and its aftermath, and Meadows concludes that Trump was robbed.
That, however, does not comport with testimony that Meadows reportedly provided to the team of special counsel Jack Smith, who has charged Trump with multiple crimes related to his attempts to overturn the results of that election.
Citing sources with knowledge of what Meadows told prosecutors, ABC News reported that the former White House chief of staff testified under oath that he repeatedly told Trump that the claims of election fraud the former president relied on were baseless.
According to Meadows’s publisher, All Seasons Press (ASP), that violates his contract with the company, which would now like its money back and then some.
“Meadows… promised and represented that ‘all statements contained in the Work are true and based on reasonable research for accuracy’ and that he ‘has not made any misrepresentations to the Publisher about the Work,’” the company stated in a lawsuit filed in Florida on Friday.
It argues that the reported testimony runs counter to what Meadows wrote in his book, and therefore amounts to a breach of contract that caused the publisher to “suffer significant monetary and reputational damage.”
“Meadows’ reported statements to the Special Prosecutor and/or his staff and his reported grand jury testimony squarely contradict the statements in his Book, one central theme of which is that President Trump was the true winner of the 2020 Presidential Election and that election was ‘stolen’ and ‘rigged’ with the help from ‘allies in the liberal media,’ who ignored ‘actual evidence of fraud,’” the lawsuit states.
As a result, All Seasons Press demands that Meadows return the $350,000 advance he was paid for the book, $600,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, at least $1 million in anticipated loss of profit, and $1 million for the damage Meadows has done to the reputation of the company.
