Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and others are expected to testify in a case regarding the challenge of the state’s 2020 general election results.
A federal judge had ordered a Monday, Aug. 28, hearing with prosecutor Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Mark Meadows, who had been indicted over actions in contesting the election results and is seeking to remove his case from state to federal court.
Mr. Meadows, former chief of staff to the president, had been charged alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 other defendants under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Ms. Willis alleges their actions constitute a “criminal racketeering enterprise” while several of the defendants maintain they had done nothing illegal in public statements.
U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones of the Northern District of Georgia, an appointee of President Barack Obama, will oversee the hearing.
Phone Call to Raffensperger
The 98-page indictment charged the 19 defendants with a total of 41 counts. Mr. Meadows was charged with one count of violating the RICO act and one count of “solicitation of violation of oath by public officer.”According to the indictment, Mr. Meadows, together with President Trump, “unlawfully solicited, requested, and importuned” Mr. Raffensperger to allegedly unlawfully alter or adjust the certified returns for presidential electors, and the secretary of state can be expected to testify on this matter.
The phone call between the president and Mr. Raffensperger was at the center of the case from the beginning.
In an hour-long, recorded call, President Trump alleged election fraud and asked Mr. Raffensperger to investigate. His line, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state” became widely publicized.
“President Trump had every right to ask the Secretary of State: ‘I believe that this election was conducted improperly. There are deficiencies here. I want to see if there are more than 10,000 votes, or whatever the number was, that were counted illegally.’ Once again, that’s core political speech,” attorney John Lauro said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Alleged Acts of Racketeering
Besides the phone call, Mr. Meadows is accused of several acts of racketeering listed in the indictment.They include setting up meetings between President Trump and and making a trip to Cobb County Civic Center in an attempt to watch the signature match audit taking place, which he was ultimately prevented from doing. It also cites a phone call the president made to Ms. Watson, which Mr. Meadows arranged. Days after the call, he texted Ms. Watson asking if the signature verification could be sped up, offering financial assistance. Some media reports have alleged this was a bribe, while spokespersons for the president have said Mr. Meadows was inquiring as to whether they could help with covering the costs of staffing or other needs.
The indictment lists other communications of Mr. Meadows, such as a text to Rep. Scott Perry (R-Penn.)
“Can you send me the number for the speaker and the leader of PA Legislature. POTUS wants to chat with them,” the text reads.
The indictment claims, “This was an overt act in futherance of the conspiracy.”
Mr. Meadows’s lawyers argue that all of the actions mentioned in the indictment are acts of a federal official, and none of them were criminal.
“Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se: arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President’s behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President,” they wrote in the notice of dismissal. “One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things.”
Mr. Meadows had earlier filed a motion for emergency relief, asking a judge to prohibit his arrest in Fulton County while his notice of removal was pending. Judge Jones denied the motion on Aug. 23, citing the upcoming hearing.
