Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has asked a federal court to order all charges against him brought by Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors last week to be dismissed, arguing the charges relate to his then-role in the federal government, CNN reported on Sunday.
In a weekend filing, Meadows argues he should have immunity from the state’s 2020 election interference criminal case because he was carrying out his duties as a federal official working for then-President Donald Trump. The filing argues that his actions arose only because he was serving Trump as a close White House adviser.
Meadows’ attorneys point out in the Saturday filing that he is not accused of violating any federal law in the special counsel’s federal indictment against Trump – nor is he alluded to as a co-conspirator.
In the Trump White House, “Mr. Meadows served a critically important advice-and-assist function that has been firmly entrenched in federal law for nearly 100 years,” his attorneys wrote to a judge Saturday about the Georgia charges, according to CNN. “The conduct charged here falls squarely within the scope of Mr. Meadows’s duties as Chief of Staff and the federal policy underlying that role.”
Meadows was among 19 defendants, including Trump, who were charged this past Monday in the Georgia 2020 election subversion case.
Georgia prosecutors accuse Meadows of connecting with officials in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia, as well as with others in the White House, on Trump’s behalf to discuss the election and Electoral College certification of the presidency.
In a filing earlier last week, Meadows requested a hearing to move his case from state to federal court, with no delay, even if “another defendant” seeks to do the same later.
On Wednesday, a federal judge scheduled an August 28 hearing for Meadows and others to present evidence about whether to move the case.
The Fulton County grand jury indictment followed a two-year investigation ignited by a January 2021 phone call in which Trump was heard asking Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to help him “find 11,780 votes” needed to reverse his narrow loss to Joe Biden.
The indictment was returned on Monday night after a document listing criminal charges against the former President was briefly posted online and then abruptly taken down.