Judge Steve Jones of the Northern District of Georgia Wednesday declined motions by two co-defendants in the Georgia racketeering case related to former President Trump.
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Department of Justice civil division chief Jeff Clark sought to move the jurisdiction of their cases to federal court.
“Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se: arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President’s behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President,” attorneys for Meadows said in an August 15 motion.
“One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things.”
Clark’s legal team made similar arguments in their motion to move jurisdiction to a federal court.
“Mr. Clark asks the Court either to grant a stay (or a temporary restraining order) against Fulton County,” Clark’s attorney argued, “or to grant an administrative stay as we describe below.”
“If the Court grants a stay,” the motion continued, “Mr. Clark would not need to be put the choice of making rushed travel arrangements to fly into Atlanta or instead risking being labeled a fugitive.”
Both men contend their roles as federal officials during the time of the alleged incidents should warrant their cases be overseen by the federal court system.
Judge Jones disagreed.
“[T]he clear statutory language for removing a criminal prosecution, does not support an injunction or temporary stay prohibiting enforcement or execution of the arrest warrant against Meadows,” he explained in his order.
This decision follows the indictment of Trump, Meadows, Clark and several other Trump allies and former federal officials.
The indictment followed Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis’ probe into purported efforts by defendants to allegedly attempt to overturn results of the 2020 election.
The charges encompass violations of the Georgia RICO Act and a smorgasbord of conspiracy related charges.
Willis apparently believing that if she throws enough charges against the defendants, something is bound to stick, like testing spaghetti against the kitchen wall.
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