Mark Meadows, the former US President’s former chief of staff, in a file picture. Alexander Drago (Portal)
Judicial setback for Donald Trump. A judge has rejected the request of Mark Meadows, the former US president’s former chief of staff and co-defendant in the 2020 election coup attempt in Georgia, to transfer his case from that state’s courts to federal court. The decision sets a discouraging precedent for the tycoon, who was also expected to seek indictment in federal court.
Meadows is the first of five defendants who have requested a change of court among the 19 defendants for alleged mafia association to try to keep Trump in the White House despite his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Joe Biden. The former high-ranking official does not deny that he committed the acts with which he is accused, but maintains that he did so in the exercise of his functions as chief of staff of the federal government and should therefore be tried in federal court and not in state court.
If successful, Meadows’ lawyers, after receiving the court’s transfer, planned to argue that their client, as chief of staff, enjoyed immunity in the performance of his duties and that the justices should therefore dismiss the case. The former officer’s legal team also believed that in the federal circuit, he had a better chance of winning a jury more sympathetic to his arguments, even if it went to trial.
In his decision, Federal Judge Steve Jones wrote that the former senior official did not meet the “minimum requirements” for the transfer. The judge believes Meadows acted for the benefit of Trump’s campaign and was therefore outside his duties as a White House official.
“This Court finds that the duties of the Office of the White House Chief of Staff did not include working with or for the Trump Campaign other than simply coordinating the President’s schedule, accompanying him to campaign events, or providing communications to (those responsible for) them ) campaign,” says Jones. “Political activities are outside the scope of the Chief of Staff.”
The so-called Hatch Act prohibits US federal officials from engaging in partisan political activities while in office. “Meadows has not demonstrated how its activities were consistent with its government duties. Therefore, the transfer of the case is inappropriate,” the judge concludes.
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For the former high-ranking official, the court decision is a major setback. Two weeks ago he took the very unusual step of testifying himself at the possible transfer hearing in an attempt to convince the judge. Now everything he said during his three and a half hour testimony can be used against him in court.
The ruling also represents a setback for Trump and the other four defendants who sought the change of court: former Justice Department bureaucrat Jeffrey Clark and three former Republican Party officials in Georgia, David Shafer, Cathy Latham and Shawn Still. The last three argue somewhat differently: they acted on orders from the President himself.
Meadows is charged with two counts: extortion of an association in violation of the state’s organized crime law and pressuring a public official to fail in his official duties. The latter refers to the chief of staff’s participation in a call on January 2, 2021, less than three weeks before Trump’s term expired, in which the president asked Georgia’s Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger, who would “get” him 11,780 votes , the votes necessary to surpass Biden and be declared the winner of the election in that state.
Raffensperger, who also testified at the hearing two weeks ago, insisted that the federal government played no role in counting votes and certifying the results. That Jan. 2 call “was a campaign call,” he said.
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