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By: The opinion Posted Aug 22, 2023, 23:17 pm EDT
Former White House chief of staff under Donald Trump’s presidency, Mark Meadows, asked a federal judge Tuesday to immediately move the Georgia criminal election interference case out of state court to federal court to protect you from being arrested, court documents showed.
Meadows, who must turn himself in by noon Friday, asked the federal court in an emergency motion Tuesday to intervene and delay the date he must turn himself in to Fulton County authorities in the ongoing case against Donald Trump and 18 other co-defendants with attempting to subvert the 2020 election result in the state of Georgia.
Alternatively, the federal court could simply issue an order barring Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from arresting Meadows this week, her attorney proposed in the 19-page filing.
Willis has already denied Mark Meadows’ request for an extension to surrender, the document said.
Meadows and 18 other co-defendants in the Willis case, including Trump, they face a deadline next Friday to turn themselves in to jail.
At least two co-defendants have already done so: pro-Trump attorney John Eastman and Georgia bail bondsman Scott Hall were booked and released early Monday.
Former President Donald Trump has said he will surrender in Fulton County court on Thursday.
Meadows is seeking to move the case of alleged interference to reverse the outcome of Georgia’s election from the state level to federal court.
Meadows argued in a court filing in the Northern District Court of Georgia on August 15 that you have the right to present a defense of federal immunity because the state of Georgia charges against him for trying to subvert the result of the 2020 election stem from his conduct as then-President Donald Trump’s chief of staffaccording to Politico.
A federal judge in the District Court in Atlanta has scheduled a hearing for Monday morning on Meadows’ request.
Meadows is charged in the indictment with one count of extortion and one count of solicitation of oath violation by a public official.
The last count is related to Meadows’ involvement in a January 2, 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to undo Biden’s election victory in the state.
But Meadows’ lawyer, John Moran, argued in the latest court filing that his attempt to move the case to federal court will be hurt if he is arrested before the hearing.
“In the absence of this Court’s intervention, Mr. Meadows will be denied the protection from arrest that federal law affords former federal officials, and this Court’s prompt but orderly consideration of deportation will be frustrated,” Moran wrote. .
The lawyer wrote that Willis has already “outright rejected” a request to postpone his arrest deadline until one day after the federal court hearing.
The filing included an email from Willis, who on Monday morning wrote: “I am not granting any extension. I gave 2 weeks for people to turn themselves in to court. His client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction.”
With information from CNBC, Axios and The New York Times
Keep reading:
Trump says he will turn himself in on Thursday to Georgia court
– Trump and 18 others face “organized crime” charges for conspiring in Georgia to change presidential election
– Scott Hall, one of the 18 defendants in Georgia along with Trump, surrenders to the authorities