A judge denied Mark Meadows’ plea to transfer his criminal case involving a Georgia election conspiracy to federal court in Atlanta. Meadows is the chief of staff in the Trump White House.
The choice keeps Meadows’ case in Fulton County Superior Court, an Atlanta-based Georgia state court, for the time being.
After the decision was made, Meadows’ attorneys filed a notice indicating that they would be appealing it to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
A grand jury in that court accused Meadows, Trump, and 17 other defendants last month on charges relating to their attempts to overturn the former president’s defeat to President Joe Biden in Georgia’s 2020 race.
In a brief on Thursday, Trump’s attorney informed the Fulton County judge that the former president would soon ask to have his own case moved to federal court. Meadows is not the only defendant who has already requested this.
In a lengthy judgment issued on Friday in federal court in Atlanta, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones stated that Meadows had failed to uphold his burden of proof that shifting his case there from Fulton County court was appropriate in accordance with a legislation that allows cases involving federal police to be removed from state courts.
Jones, who held a hearing on the motion last week, wrote: “The Court concludes that Meadows has not shown that the actions that prompted the State’s prosecution related to his federal office.”
“Meadows’ alleged involvement in post-election activities was unrelated to his position as White House Chief of Staff or his authority within the executive branch,” the statement reads.
Only one of Meadows’ eight allegedly overt crimes, Jones wrote, “could have occurred within the scope of Meadows’ federal office,” namely requesting Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania for the contact information of Pennsylvania’s legislative leaders on Trump’s behalf.
The State’s accusations against Meadows are based on actions that were carried out on behalf of the Trump campaign with the ultimate aim of influencing state election procedures and activities, Jones wrote.
Jones, who was appointed to the court by President Barack Obama, continued, “Meadows himself testified that working for the Trump campaign would be outside the scope of a White House Chief of Staff.
Even if one of the other defendants is successful in getting their case transferred to federal court, they will still be prosecuted by the same Fulton County District Attorney’s office and face the same state criminal charges.
Although Jones stated in his order that Meadows’ removal request would not influence similar requests made by other defendants, it is doubtful that those bids will fare well.
Experts believed Meadows, who held a federal position and resided in Washington, D.C. at the time of the alleged crimes, had the best chance, barring Trump, of getting the case transferred to federal court.
Because its jury pool is recruited from a bigger area and hence likely to contain more Republicans than the state court, the federal court in Atlanta is thought to be a possibly more favorable venue for the defendants than the state court.
