Lynne Patton Is the Woman Sitting Behind Mark Meadows

Lynne Patton, an official in President Donald Trump’s administration, is the woman sitting behind Mark Meadows today at Michael Cohen’s hearing.

Mark Meadows got national attention quickly during Cohen’s hearing today when he asked for the hearing to be postponed because Cohen released his opening testimony late. Meadows released his statement last night.

Patton could be seen sitting behind Meadows while he made his statement.

Lynne Patton is a senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Trump’s administration. She has defended Trump in the past, including August 2018 when she released a statement via TwitLonger rebuking some of Omarosa Manigault-Newman’s claims, including that there was a recording of Trump saying the N-word.

“I just spoke to Bill Pruitt tonight before releasing this statement,” Patton wrote. “He confirmed to me (before Hardball had even gone off the air) that he does NOT have an audio tape of President Trump using the “N-word” and has NEVER had an audio tape of President Trump using the ‘N-word.’ Period.”

Since July 2017, Patton has served as the head of HUD’s largest regional office, Region 2. She oversees the allocation of billions of dollars to public housing, providing renter vouchers, and funding for housing inspections. Her region includes the Greater New York area and New Jersey.

Patton is so close to the Trumps that she even helped plan Eric Trump’s wedding. She started out in 2009 as an event planner, and then worked for The Eric Trump Foundation where she was eventually Vice President. Here is a speech she gave at the Republican National Convention.

Patton recently made news when she moved into public housing earlier this month. She’ll be staying there for a month. She wants to see firsthand what challenges the residents face living there.

Lynne Patton shared on Twitter that she was glad to be Meadows’ guest today.

She wrote: “I am honored to be the special guest of @RepMarkMeadows today. I am here in support of @POTUS and in support of the truth, as Michael Cohen (knows that I know) it to be. And the truth is that it doesn’t take you 15 years to call someone a racist. Unless they’re not one.”