Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has had his request to move his trial to a federal court rejected by the judge presiding over his case.
Meadows, along with former president Donald Trump and 17 others, is charged in relation to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. All have pleaded not guilty.
An attempt to move their cases out of Georgia state court was hinted by Trump and other co-defendants in Fulton County. The latest ruling on Meadows’ case, however, suggests any similar attempts are likely to fail.
It also marks the first successful major test for Georgia prosecutors.
Meadows’ Case
The former White House aide is accused of setting up calls and meetings to allow then-President Trump to alter the vote count in his favor. Meadows is charged with racketeering and felony solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.
Meadows’ defense team have argued that as he was acting in his capacity as a federal employee, he should therefore be charged in a federal court. However, in a 49-page ruling on Friday, US District Judge Steve Jones wrote that Meadows had “not met even the ‘quite low’ threshold” to have the case moved.
Judge Jones, an Obama-appointee, added that the evidence “establishes that the actions at the heart of the State’s charges against Meadows were taken on behalf of the Trump campaign with an ultimate goal of affecting state election activities and procedures.”
“Meadows himself testified that working for the Trump campaign would be outside the scope of a White House Chief of Staff,” Judge Jones continued, before emphasizing that the ruling “does not, at this time, have any effect on” similar challenges brought on by the other defendants.
Federal Court
Last week, Meadows testified for a total of three hours in front of the federal court.
“I don’t know that I did anything that was outside my scope as chief of staff,” he told the court according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. He also said that he had a “very broad responsibility” to ensure “accurate and fair elections.”
At least four other defendants, namely former justice department official Jeffrey Clark, Georgia lawmaker Shawn Still, former Georgia Republican chairman David Shafer, and alleged fake elector Cathy Latham, have also filed to have their cases heard in the federal court. Fulton County is mostly comprised of Democrat voters who may be less sympathetic to the defense.
Moreover, moving a case to federal court will buy defense attorneys more time to perform legal maneuvers to improve their case. Perhaps more so a bonus for Trump is that television cameras are usually banned from federal courts where the procedures are stricter than the state alternative.
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist based in Canada. He has written for the Western Standard, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo, and has covered notable events including the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
