Welcome to the beat. I'm Melissa Murray in for Ari Melber. We begin tonight with

tantalizing new reporting about the Special Counsel's coup probe and what it

suggests about Donald Trump's criminal intent. Jack Smith has already sent

Trump a target letter and an indictment could come any day. Today the Washington

Post reports the Special Counsel's team is scrutinizing text messages sent by

Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows. The texts are important because they

appear to provide more evidence that Trump's inner circle knew Biden won the

election. The text in question show Marshall's joking with White House lawyer

Eric Hirschman about Trump's fraudulent election claims and the messages

Meadows refers to his son, a lawyer in Georgia, having trouble proving Trump's

claims. In early December Meadows texted, quote,

my son found 12 obituary's and six other possible's depending on the voter

role accuracy. Hirschman jokingly responds quote, that sounds more like it.

Maybe he can help Rudy find the other 10k Meadows responds with hello well.

Laugh out loud. The Post reports that such mockery of Trump's claims was

commonplace. Quote, Trump aids and other Republican officials express deep

skepticism or even openly mock the election claims being publicly made by

Trump. The text were sent about a month before Trump's infamous January

second phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad's Raphson's burger.

Here's what Meadows said on that call. For example, Mr. Secretary, I can tell you

you said there was only two dead people that would vote. I can promise you there

are more than that and that may be what your investigation shows but I can

...