Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows testified in an Atlanta courtroom on Monday as part of his effort to move two felony charges in Georgia, accusing him of conspiring with former President Donald Trump to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, to federal court.
Meadows, 64, faced questioning by his attorney and attorneys representing the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, during a hearing in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, where he argued that the actions he took in checking Peach’s 2020 state election results were in under the scope of his broad and unpredictable role as Trump’s chief of staff.
The hearing concluded late Monday and Federal Judge Steve Jones said he would rule on the removal request at a later date but did not provide a timetable.
One by one, Meadows’ attorney George Terwilliger listed the activities highlighted in the Fulton County grand jury indictment against him – including visits to Cobb County voting facilities and scheduling calls with Georgia election officials to discuss disputed ballots.
Meadows argued that his case in Georgia should be tried in federal court. AP
Meadows is one of 18 Trump co-defendants in Georgia. AFP via Getty Images
For more than an hour, the former White House official insisted that all of his actions fell under his federal jurisdiction and that Willis’ case against him should therefore be tried in federal court.
Georgia state prosecutors insisted that his actions were outside the scope of his federal position and more in line with Trump’s official re-election campaign.
“I’m going to try to find out everything that’s going on,” Meadows said on the stand. “I was never paid by the campaign, never supervised the campaign. They have their own structure.”
Meadows said he got involved in the election controversy because there are federal interests involved — including the maintenance of “free and fair elections,” managing his boss’s time and the possibility of executive orders being issued as Trump fights to stay in power.
Willis has charged Meadows with violating state anti-riot laws and asking an officer to violate their oath of office.Getty Images
Anna Cross, an attorney representing the Fulton County DA’s office, repeatedly sought to undermine Meadows’ portrayal during cross-examination, endlessly asking him what federal policy interests were “advanced” by his actions.
“Do you agree Mr. Meadows that acting solely to advance campaign goals or interests is beyond the role of a chief of staff?” he asked the former North Carolina congressman.
Meadows denied that he deviated from his official position at any time.
“Serving the president of the United States — and I want to be clear about this your honor — takes all forms,” he argued.
Cross also hammered Meadows for contacting Georgia election officials and asking if the signature verification process could be expedited if they provided money for the process.
That, he said, was a clear offer of campaign money to influence the election process.
Meadows countered that he was only trying to resolve the election issue at Trump’s behest while also handling the transfer of power to the Biden administration.
“I’m trying to land a plane,” Meadows argued.
Meadows, who was booked into the Fulton County Jail last week on charges of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute and soliciting officials to violate their oath of office, is accused of taking part in a January 2021 phone call between Trump, 77, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where the former president suggested Raffensperger could help “find the 11,780 votes” needed for him to win the state.
“The president of the United States wants this issue resolved and my understanding is to bring everyone together,” Meadows said of the infamous call on Monday.
At one point, Meadows described a meeting with Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr, in which Barr dismissed the then-president’s election fraud complaint.
“He just said a lot of it had no merit. Some of it — to use his term — was bullshit,” Meadows said of what Barr, who resigned from the Trump administration in December 2020, told the then-president.
Meadows surrendered to Fulton County authorities last week after an emergency motion to prevent his arrest was denied. AP
Meadows stated during his testimony that he found the Cobb County vote counting process to be clean and professional and that he conveyed that assessment to Trump.
He denies committing two of the acts listed in the indictment, including asking White House staff director John McEntee to draft a memo to then-Vice President Mike Pence on how to delay the certification of election results and sending a text message to the Georgia state office’s chief investigator Frances Watson.
“When this came out in the indictment, it was the biggest shock to me,” Meadows said.
“I asked Johnny McEntee for a memo like this not to happen,” he claimed.
Meadows revealed that former Attorney General Bill Barr called some of Trump’s election fraud complaints “bullshit.” Getty Images
Cross concluded his cross-examination by pointing to an email exchange Meadows had with former Trump campaign chief Jason Miller in which he referred to them collectively as “we.”
Meadows is among at least five of 18 Trump co-defendants in Georgia who are seeking to move their cases to federal court, including former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, former Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still and former Chairman Coffee County GOP Cathy Latham.
The US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia last week denied Meadows’ emergency request to block his arrest by Fulton County authorities in the case.
Meadows denied asking White House staff director John McEntee to draft a memo to then-Vice President Mike Pence on how to delay the confirmation of the 2020 election results. The Washington Post via Getty Images
Raffensperger also took the stand Monday, telling the judge that Meadows repeatedly contacted him after the state’s vote had been certified. He refused to call her back several times because he felt it was inappropriate.
“The accomplishments so far have been extraordinary,” Raffensperger said, noting that he and his wife received threats after Trump repeatedly rejected his handling of the Georgia voting process.
He said he eventually agreed to a call with Meadows, Trump and several lawyers after being pressured to do so.
Cross played audio of the call on Monday, with a visibly agitated Trump requesting access to voter data and asserting widespread fraud.
After getting pushback, Trump exclaimed: “You’re allowed to have a fake election?”
Prosecutors argued that Meadows violated the Hatch Act with his actions, which prohibit members of the executive branch other than the president and vice president from engaging in certain political activities.
Terwilliger demurred in his closing, arguing that state officials should not be able to dictate the duties of the president’s chief of staff.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
