A federal judge in Atlanta is set to hear arguments Monday on whether Mark Meadows should be allowed to fight the Georgia indictment accusing him of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election in federal court rather than in a stat.
A federal judge in Atlanta is set to hear arguments Monday on whether Mark Meadows should be allowed to fight the Georgia indictment accusing him of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election in federal court rather than in a state court.
The former White House chief of staff was charged earlier this month along with former President Donald Trump and 17 other people. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who used Georgia’s racketeering law to bring the case, alleges that they participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally try to keep the Republican incumbent president in power even after his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Lawyers for Meadows argue that his actions that gave rise to the charges in the indictment “all occurred during his tenure and as part of his service as Chief of Staff.” They argue he did nothing criminal and that the charges against him should be dismissed. In the meantime, they want U.S. District Judge Steve Jones to move the case to federal court to halt any proceedings against him at the state level.
Willis’ team argues that the actions in question were meant solely to keep Trump in office. These actions were explicitly political in nature and are illegal under the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity by federal employees, they wrote in a response to Meadows’ notice of removal to federal court.
