Former Donald Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in his mugshot: FULTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE (via Portal)
Mark Meadows is not Donald Trump. But the hearing, taking place in Georgia this Monday, at which the former White House chief of staff and co-defendant, along with the former US president and 17 others, is seeking to have their case referred to federal court could be crucial for the future . the trial of the 19 for creating a mafia-like organization to commit voter fraud in that state in 2020 and keep the tycoon in power. The 19 people will appear before the Fulton County Superior Court on September 6 to testify on the charges against them.
In a very unusual move that experts say is risky, Meadows appeared Monday in Atlanta, the Georgia capital, to testify for almost three hours before federal judge Steve Jones and plead for the transfer of the current case into the hands of a state court in the Fulton County, to a federal court. His argument: his involvement in the alleged crimes was in his capacity as a government official and therefore falls within the jurisdiction of a federal court. It’s a strategy that four other defendants have already followed in the case and that Trump himself will certainly follow sooner or later. What Jones decides could affect the steps the former president will take in this case, his fourth indictment in as many months.
Throughout his interrogation by the defense and prosecutors, Meadows has not denied involvement in the events alleged against him, insisting he did so in the performance of his duties as chief of staff. The months between Trump’s election defeat in November 2020 and the former president’s departure from the White House on January 20, 2021 were “a difficult time,” he said, during which he was “invited to almost every meeting” at which Trump the results celebrated the elections. He took part because, he claims, there is a “federal interest” in holding free and fair elections.
“It was part of my job to make sure the president was alive and well and able to do his job,” the former senior official said. “To be clear, I serve the President of the United States.”
The benefits of a trial in federal court are significant for the defendant. If the argument that the alleged offenses were committed in the performance of your duties as a public servant is accepted for judicial transfer, the judges are more likely to decide that you enjoyed immunity and dismiss your case. And if it did go to trial, the jury would be drawn from different counties across Georgia, making it more likely that at least one Republican-leaning party would side with them. If the case stayed in the state district, the trial would take place in Fulton County, where there is a large Democratic majority.
It is important to have part of the jury on your side, however small, as the verdict must be unanimous. Should the approval of all members not be obtained, he would be released.
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The former chief of staff has been in federal court in Atlanta since 9 a.m. (3 p.m. Spanish time) to testify on his case.
Prosecutor Fani Willis, who indicted the 19 on Aug. 14, claims, continuing the case in Fulton, that the crimes allegedly committed were for the sole purpose of keeping Trump in the White House despite losing the election (in Georgia this defeat was minimal). , with 11,779 votes) and therefore these were actions of a political nature. The Hatch Act prohibits federal government officials from engaging in partisan politics.
Willis had aimed to start the trial on March 4 next year, but that will no longer be possible: This Monday, federal judge Tanya Chutkan was in Washington on that day to hear the trial of Trump’s third indictment in the nationwide assassination They changed the outcome of the 2020 election, which eventually led to a mob attack on the Capitol. The prosecutor’s intentions, announced at the time of indictment, to hold a speedy trial, may be complicated by the various motions filed by different defendants, both for the case to be transferred to the federal judicial circuit and for the trial to be held as soon as possible. in some cases.
Meadows is accused of engaging in meetings and communications with state legislatures to keep Trump in power; moved to counting centers outside of Atlanta, where vote control took place; and participating in a Jan. 2, 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which the president pressured the state official to “find” 11,780 votes, the number needed to secure victory over the Declare Democrat Joe Biden.
Speaking to CBS’s Face The Nation, former New Jersey governor and current Republican presidential nominee Chris Christie, a staunch Trump critic, believed the former chief of staff could succeed in his request to escalate the case, but that won’t affect that have final judgement. “Whether or not Mark Meadows wins this motion will not materially impact how a jury at trial must make a decision (of guilty or not),” he said.
Among the witnesses called to testify at Monday’s hearing were Raffensperger, the former investigator for Georgia’s Secretary of State Frances Watson’s office, and two attorneys from Trump’s Georgia team.
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