Trump’s failed New York hush money removal gambit helps to understand Mark Meadows’ bid to take his Georgia case to federal court.
Will Mark Meadows succeed in moving his Georgia state prosecution to federal court? The former White House chief of staff shouldn’t count on it, but it’s possible, which is more than could rightly be said about Donald Trump’s failed attempt to take his New York state prosecution federal.
Meadows made his case during a hearing Monday in a federal court in Georgia. As we wait for the judge to rule, let’s compare Meadows’ effort to his former boss’s gambit in New York. This can help explain why Meadows has an outside shot but Trump really didn’t — even if Meadows doesn’t ultimately succeed, either.
In terms of the legal standard, current and former federal officials (or those acting under them) can move their cases from state to federal court if the conduct at issue relates to acts taken under such federal office and there’s a “colorable” federal defense.
In Trump’s case, the federal judge in New York easily disposed of his argument that he had hired Michael Cohen, who paid hush money to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, “as a direct result of President Trump’s role as President of the United States and his obligations under the Constitution, and in order to separate his business affairs from his public duties.”
The problem, the New York judge explained in rejecting removal in July, is that Trump offered no evidence supporting that contention and chose not to testify or call Cohen to the stand. That made it easier for the judge to reach the unremarkable conclusion that an alleged hush money cover-up “does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.
