On Monday evening, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) led a grand jury to indict former President Donald Trump; Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff; and 17 others.
Meadows has responded to the indictment by requesting the transfer of his charges from the Fulton County Superior Court to a federal court.
Meadows’ charges relate to the 2020 general election and Trump’s questioning of the integrity of Georgia’s vote-counting procedures in which Meadows played a role.
Legal analysts note that Georgia state law prohibits a governor or the president of the United States from granting a pardon or overruling a conviction in a Georgia state court.
The peculiar statute does not bode well for Trump and those indicted with him on Monday — which likely factored heavily into Meadows’ decision to request a change of venue to a federal court.
Politico reported that Meadows is the “first defendant to try to take the case federal, but others — including Trump — are expected to follow suit.”
The basis for Meadows’ request is his assertion that federal law provides immunity from state-level prosecution for actions he took in his capacity as a federal officer. A law known as a “removal statute” generally allows an “officer of the U.S. Government” who is facing charges in a state court to transfer the proceedings to a federal court if the charges deal with behavior or activities common to their regular work duties.
In the legal documents submitted, Meadows’ legal team stated: “Mr. Meadows is entitled to remove this action to federal court because the charges against him plausibly give rise to a federal defense based on his role at all relevant times as the White House Chief of Staff to the President of the United States.”
Fox News reported the two charges against Meadows are specifically related to a 2020 phone call he facilitated between then-President Trump and Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger.
During the call, Trump requested Raffensperger to “find” certain ballots that, if located, would have potentially shifted the election outcome in Georgia in his favor.
Trump maintains he was winning in Georgia and projected to win until irregularities shifted ballot totals in President Joe Biden’s favor.
Meadows denied any wrongdoing in his court filing. He emphasized that the actions he is being charged for are protected as they were performed in his official role as the president’s chief of staff.
His attorneys further elaborated, “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. One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things.”
Meadows’ attorney added: “This is precisely the kind of state interference in a federal official’s duties that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits.”
The defense highlighted the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which establishes the superiority of federal law over state laws. They argued that this clause prevents states from interfering with the duties of federal officials. Using this clause, Meadows is claiming immunity from prosecution.
Fulton County prosecutors have alleged that Meadows played a key role in a cabal or ring of influential individuals who knew the truth but worked to subvert the will of the people by attempting to overturn the election they knew they lost.
Willis asserts that Meadows played a key role in assisting Trump in pressuring state legislators and election officials in Georgia to reverse the election results.
Meadows’ legal team countered these claims by stating, “These and the other acts that form the basis for the charges against Mr. Meadows all fall squarely within his conduct as Chief of Staff.”
Meadows has indicated his intention to file a motion to dismiss the indictment as per Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
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