ATLANTA (CN) — Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff and one of Donald Trump's 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case, testified on Monday that his proceedings should be moved to federal court.
Meadows, who was not required to testify in the evidentiary hearing, took the stand for nearly three hours in his first public defense of his actions on behalf of the former President following the 2020 presidential election.
In a motion filed earlier this month, Meadows argued that his case in the racketeering indictment should be removed from state to federal court because he was acting in his capacity as a government official at the time.
State prosecutors argued in response on Friday that Meadows' indictment in the case "results directly from his disregard for the lawful scope of his official duties," and that "federal law forbids any employee of the executive branch from 'us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.'”
During the hearing overseen by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones, Meadows fielded questions from his attorney, George Terwilliger III, and Fulton County prosecutor Anna Cross.
The 62-year-old did not dispute the actions described in the indictment, which prosecutors allege were done in furtherance of a "criminal enterprise" to overturn Trump's defeat by President Joe Biden in the state of Georgia and others. He said there was a “federal nexus” to all of his actions, referred to as "overt acts" in the indictment, and he undertook each as the president’s top aide.
Functioning as “the ear of the president,” Meadows said his role involved managing Trump's schedule and participating in meetings and phone calls of a political nature.
For instance, Meadows admitted he participated in the now-infamous phone call Trump made to Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, in which the former President asked that he "find 11,780 votes" needed for him to win the state, is a key piece of evidence used by prosecutors in the case. However, Meadows claimed he was unaware that three lawyers were on the call as well. Those lawyers — Cleta Mitchell, Alex Kaufman and Kurt Hilbert — filed a campaign lawsuit against Raffensperger that was tossed by a federal judge.
Meadows said there was a federal interest in the "free and fair elections" and accurate administration of state elections, but repeatedly claimed to have no knowledge of the Trump campaign's efforts to contest the election results.
Asked about his presence at a White House meeting between Trump and Pennsylvania lawmakers that was cited in the indictment, where the former President discussed overturning his loss in the U.S. Supreme Court, Meadows testified that he was there to inform three of the lawmakers that they had tested positive for Covid-19 and would not be able to see the president.
Prosecutors also repeatedly pressed Meadows on why he made a surprise visit to a metro Atlanta facility in December 2020 to observe Georgia’s audit of absentee ballot envelope signatures and ask questions about the process. Investigators from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and secretary of state’s office at the time were reviewing absentee ballot envelopes to check if voter signatures matched those on file.
Meadows insisted his visit was because Trump had concerns about the recount, and that he was already traveling to Georgia to visit family for Christmas.
He did not dispute the contents of a text message brought up by prosecutors, in which he asked a Georgia secretary of state staff member if “there was a way to speed up Fulton county signature verification in order to have results before Jan 6 if the trump campaign assist financially." However, he said there was an error in the indictment: The December 2020 message was sent to the office's Chief of Staff Jordan Fuchs, not chief investigator Frances Watson as alleged.
At least four witnesses, all of whom interacted directly with Meadows after the 2020 election, were subpoenaed to testify at the hearing, including Raffensperger and Watson, as well as two Trump campaign attorneys.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who secured the indictment on Aug. 14 after a two-year investigation, did not attend the hearing, but at least six members of her prosecution team were present.
Both parties rested their arguments late Monday. Judge Jones did not signal when he will release a decision.
Meadows faces two charges, violating Georgia's anti-racketeering law and soliciting a violation of oath by public officer, a felony. If his case is moved to federal court it will be overseen by Jones, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, instead of Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee, who was appointed this year by Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
Three other defendants — former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, former Georgia Republican party chairman David Shafer and former chairwoman of the Coffee County Republican Party Cathy Latham — have also filed motions seeking to move their cases to federal court.
A trial in federal court would allow for a larger jury pool, with prospects coming from across the entire Northern District of the state, compared to a Fulton County jury of Atlanta residents, 73% of whom voted for President Joe Biden over 26% for Trump.
If any of the cases are removed to federal court, criminal indictment would still be brought under state law; and if convicted, Meadows and the other defendants would be punished under state law. Their sentences would not be pardonable under federal law.
Meadows turned himself in at the Fulton County jail on Thursday and was released on a $100,000 bond, just hours before Trump's surrender.
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