Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows will appear in court in Georgia for the first time Monday, making a bid to transfer the case against him to federal court.
Meadows, who faces charges of interfering in Georgia’s 2020 election, argues that he was acting in his capacity as a federal official at the time and is therefore immune to prosecution.
Meadows’ attorneys plan to request that U.S. District Judge Steve Jones move the case to the federal system, at which time they would then move to have the case dismissed, according to the Washington Post.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted 18 people in addition to former President Donald Trump earlier this month. Four of those have adopted Meadows’ strategy of attempting to push their case into federal court, including former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and former Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer.
Prior to his surrender last week, Meadows had filed an emergency motion seeking to prevent his ‘imminent arrest,’ which was denied. Meadows had sought to stall his arrest pending the outcome of an evidentiary hearing over the possibility of his RICO charges being moved from state to federal court, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was also notified last week that he will be subpoenaed to testify during Monday’s court hearing.
Willis’ indictment against Meadows cited a Jan. 2, 2021 phone call in which Trump requested that Raffensperger ‘find votes’ to overturn the state’s election results. Meadows was on the phone call as well, and Willis argues that his participation constituted illegal solicitation of a state official to violate his oath.
Lawyers for Meadows have responded that the actions he took were ‘directly related’ to his role as White House chief of staff, and that the case constitutes ‘state interference in a federal official’s duties.’
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
