Mark Meadows, former congressman and chief of staff to President Donald Trump, has asked a federal judge to prevent his arrest in Georgia, where President Trump, Mr. Meadows, and others face charges for attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleged in her Aug. 14 indictment that President Trump, Mr. Meadows, and 17 others took part in a racketeering conspiracy by aiding President Trump’s effort to uncover evidence of fraud in the 2020 election and have alternative slates of electors arranged in several states to delay the counting of electoral votes.
Ms. Willis gave the defendants until noon of Aug. 25 to turn themselves in to avoid getting arrested, but Mr. Meadows has a pending request to have the case moved to a federal court with a hearing scheduled for Aug. 28. He asked the DA to postpone the deadline until after his hearing, but she “rejected the proposal out of hand and made clear that she would arrest Mr. Meadows,” his lawyers said in court papers.
“I am not granting any extensions. I gave 2 weeks for people to surrender themselves to the court. Your client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction,“ Willis responded to the lawyers, according to the court filing, adding, ”The two weeks was a tremendous courtesy.”
The lawyers retorted with a letter “making clear that Mr. Meadows is differently situated from other Fulton County defendants because he is a former federal official who has a pending Notice of Removal,” the filing said.
Federal officials have a right to be tried in federal court and enjoy an immunity against prosecution for actions they took “under color” of office. While Mr. Meadows no longer holds office, he did during the time covered by the DA’s allegations.
On Aug. 22, the lawyers asked District Judge Steve Jones, who oversees the removal request, to either grant it before Aug. 25, or to forbid Ms. Willis from arresting Mr. Meadows.
Removal should be decided quickly, particularly in this case, the lawyers suggested, because “unfortunately, the State [of Georgia] is set on subjecting Mr. Meadows to criminal process in Georgia as quickly as it can and without regard to his pending efforts to remove the case to federal court.”
Removals have been granted even without a hearing in the past, they noted, but added that the court could grant the removal and then reconsider the decision after the hearing if needed.
Alternatively, preventing Mr. Meadows’s arrest “will preserve Mr. Meadows’s rights without substantially burdening the State of Georgia,” they said.
If the removal is granted, the entire case for all 19 defendants would be moved to the federal court. If the judge grants the dismissal of charges against Mr. Meadows and potentially others raising federal immunity, he can decide to send the remaining case back to the state court.
