The charges against Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s one-time chief of staff, for efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election will not be heard in federal court, a sign of similar bids by former US president and his co-defendants to move. the criminal case will fail to a more favorable place.
Friday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denying Meadows’ request to move his case from state to federal court was an early victory for Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors, who August accused Trump and 18 others of conspiring to reverse Trump’s 2020 Democratic loss. President Joe Biden.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
Meadows is accused of arranging calls and meetings in which prosecutors say Trump pressured election officials to change the vote count in his favor, including one call in which he urged Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia, “finding” enough votes to give him statehood. He pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors argued that those duties were not “necessary and proper” duties for a US president and his chief of staff, but Meadows said they were part of his portfolio as a top White House aide. said Trump. The law allows a defendant to have their case heard in federal court if the charges against them stem from their official duties.
An attorney for Meadows did not immediately return a request for comment. He can appeal the verdict.
Meadows could face a friendlier jury pool in federal court, drawing from a larger and more politically diverse area than Fulton County, Georgia, the Democratic stronghold where Mr. -and the case.
The move to federal court also would have allowed Meadows to argue that he is not immune from state prosecution because he was performing his duties as a federal official.
Meadows, Trump and 17 others were indicted in a sweeping indictment in August. Prosecutors say they forced state officials to change the results of the Georgia election in Trump’s favor and conspired to undermine the electoral college, a largely ceremonial body that formally elects the president.
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Trump has said the criminal case and the three others he faces are part of a political scheme aimed at preventing him from regaining the White House in the November 2024 election.
He was also indicted in Florida for his handling of classified documents when he left office, in Washington DC for his efforts to overturn the election and in New York for a hush money payment he paid to a porn star.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
