Court REJECTS Mark Meadows’ Bid To Have Criminal Case Moved to Federal Court

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an attempt by Mark Meadows to remove the Georgia criminal case against him to federal court.

Meadows, who served as former President Donald Trump’s last chief-of-staff, was indicted in August with Trump and 17 others in connection with their attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump falsely claimed the election was rigged against him and undertook several measures in a vain attempt to overturn the results in Georgia and other states he lost. The former president leaned on Republican officials in several states to get them to reverse the results. During a now-infamous phone call, Trump urged Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” him 11,780 votes, which would have made him the winner of the state. Meadows was on the call at the time.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges that Trump and Meadows tried to coerce the secretary of state into violating his oath of office. Willis is prosecuting them and their fellow codefendants under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Both have pleaded not guilty.

Attorneys for Meadows argued that he was simply carrying out his duties as the president’s chief of staff, and therefore his case should be removed to federal court. But for the second time, a federal court rejected that argument.

“At bottom, whatever the chief of staff’s role with respect to state election administration, that role does not include altering valid election results in favor of a particular candidate,” Chief Judge William Pryor wrote in a 47-page opinion issued on Monday by a three-judge panel. “So there is no ‘casual connection’ between Meadows’s ‘official authority’ and his alleged participation in the conspiracy.”

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