Mark Meadows in a police booking mugshot released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office | via Reuters
a judge On Friday, Trump rejected a request by Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows to move the Georgia election conspiracy criminal case to federal court in Atlanta.
The decision leaves Meadows’ case in Fulton County Superior Court, a Georgia state court in Atlanta.
Meadows was indicted last month by the same court’s grand jury on charges related to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 Georgia election. He was indicted along with 17 co-defendants.
Trump’s attorneys told a Fulton County Judge on Thursday in a filing that the former president may soon ask to transfer his case to federal court. Four defendants other than Meadows have already made such requests.
On Friday in Atlanta federal court, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, in a long-term order in Atlanta federal court, removed the lawsuit from Fulton County Court under a law that allows lawsuits against federal officials to be removed from state court. Meadows said he did not take responsibility to show that the move to the county court was appropriate.
“The court concludes that Mr. Meadows has not shown that the conduct that gave rise to the state’s charges was related to his federal office,” said Jones, who held a hearing on the claim last week. wrote.
“Mr. Meadows’ alleged involvement in post-election activities was unrelated to his role as White House Chief of Staff or to his executive authority.”
Jones asked Rep. Scott Perry (R., Pennsylvania) on behalf of Trump for the phone number of the Pennsylvania legislative leader in eight blatant criminal acts Meadows was accused of committing. Only one incident “could have occurred within the confines of Mr. Meadows’ federal office,” it said. . “
“The actions at the heart of the state’s charges against Mr. Meadows were undertaken on behalf of the Trump campaign with the ultimate goal of influencing the state’s election activities and procedures,” Jones wrote.
Jones, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, added that “Mr. Meadows himself has testified that working for the Trump campaign is outside the scope of his authority as White House chief of staff.”
Even if any of the other defendants were successful in having their cases transferred to federal court, they would be exposed to the same state criminal charges there and face the same prosecutors in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Jones said in his order that denying Meadows’ removal request would not affect similar requests by other defendants, which probably doesn’t bode well for the bid.
Experts said Meadows, other than Mr. Trump, was seen as the most qualified person to move the case to federal court because he held federal office and lived in Washington, D.C., at the time of the alleged crimes.
Federal court in Atlanta is seen as potentially a more favorable venue for defendants than state courts because jurors are drawn from a wider area and are likely to include more Republicans. there is
