Former Trump White House Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Matthews, disclosed to CNN that she had spoken with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, suggesting that the subject matter of the questioning may have led to the target letter sent to ex-President Donald Trump. Matthews, a guest on CNN News Central, revealed that she testified for Smith’s investigation into Trump’s conduct surrounding the 2020 election.
During the interview with anchor Kate Bolduan, Matthews confirmed her contact with the special counsel but was cautious about providing too many details regarding her personal legal involvement. However, she did mention that the special counsel was aware of her presence in the West Wing on January 6th and her activities in the White House leading up to that day.
Bolduan inquired about the line of questioning, with previous reports indicating an interest in asking witnesses about Trump’s acknowledgment of losing the election and how he spoke about it. Matthews did not directly confirm the specific questions but suggested that the focus of the investigation seemed to revolve around the president’s mindset during that time.
She explained that Trump was repeatedly informed by his staff that there was no substantial evidence of election fraud, and that he had lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. However, Trump seemingly refused to accept this reality and instead started listening to individuals like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who were telling him what he wanted to hear.
BOLDUAN: That’s interesting, the distinction that you make. I want to ask you about that in a second.
But you mentioned the January 6th Congressional Committee, their investigation, you testified, as we all remember, you testified before the January 6th Congressional Committee, and we are learning more and more about the various and wide-ranging amount of witnesses that the special counsel has spoken to and reached out to in regard to the special counsel’s investigation into January 6th.
Have you been in contact with the special counsel?
MATTHEWS: I have been in contact with the special counsel.
BOLDUAN: Did they — did you sit for an interview? Can you tell me a little bit more about their line of interest in question — in your conversations with them?
MATTHEWS: I don’t want to go into too much detail about my own personal legal involvement, but they obviously knew that I was in the West Wing on January 6th and in the White House leading up to that day.
BOLDUAN: That’s really interesting. I mean, we had — we’ve heard of so many people and we — as I’ve — I mean, this is the first time I’m hearing that you’ve spoken to the special counsel. Was — in terms of the line of questioning, we had heard that many people were asked — there was an interest in asking about the president acknowledging that he had lost the election or what and how he spoke about that.
Was that the line of — was that part of the questioning that — when you spoke to the special counsel’s office?
MATTHEWS: You know, I don’t want to get too much into the specifics of what the line of questioning was, but that definitely seems to be what the reporting shows of what their focus was when they were questioning other individuals as well.
BOLDUAN: That’s not out of line with what — that — you wouldn’t just dispute that? That wouldn’t be out of line of what kind of thing that you could have been speaking to them about?
MATTHEWS: I think that that is the central part of their investigation.
BOLDUAN: Mm-hmm.
MATTHEWS: Because they want to know what the president’s mindset was.
And as I mentioned earlier, he was told repeatedly by staff that there was no substantial evidence of fraud that, you know, he had lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, and that was a fact that he could not accept.
And that was when he started tuning out the advisors that were telling him the truth and started listening to folks like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell because they were telling him what he wanted to hear.
BOLDUAN: So, Sarah, this is really interesting. You have, since you have spoken with the special counsel, you now tell me.
