(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A federal appeals court thwarted Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s attempt to relocate the Fulton County election case to federal court, Politico reported on Monday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh District upheld a lower court’s decision that dismissed Meadows’s efforts to block a prosecution led by far-left Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
BREAKING: Court of appeals *rejects* Mark MEADOWS bid to move his Georgia charges to federal court on two grounds:
-Removal does not apply yo former officials
-Charges against Meadows did not involve his “official” duties. https://t.co/FfVVNw7ihP pic.twitter.com/AFuKwdsOdO— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 18, 2023
Specifically, Meadows claimed that his role in the efforts to question the Georgia results of the 2020 presidential election was merely part of his official duties as chief of staff. However, in a unanimous decision, the appeals court ruled that “the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows’s official duties.”
The appeals court also ruled that “even if Meadows were an ‘officer,’ his participation in an alleged conspiracy to overturn a presidential election was not related to his official duties.”
The potential next step for Meadows would be an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, however, the Fulton County prosecution remains in place.
Willis charged Meadows, along with 17 others, including former President Donald Trump, with charges related to an alleged criminal plot to overturn the results of the election in Georgia, a state that President Joe Biden narrowly carried by 0.23 percentage points.
In a 36-page rebuttal of Meadows’s defense, Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. ruled that the role of White House chief of staff does grant unlimited immunity from prosecution in personal matters.
“We cannot rubberstamp Meadows’ legal opinion that the president’s chief of staff has unfettered authority,” Pryor wrote, as reported by Politico.
In 2020, Meadows spoke with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about the validity of some mail-in ballots. Trump also had a conversation with Georgia officials in which the then-president pressed Raffensperger about potentially finding ballots that could help his re-election bid.
Trump has long argued that he had a “perfect” phone call where he was merely drawing attention to reports that some invalid pro-Biden ballots were counted by the Georgia Department of State.
Moreover, Trump has also criticized the case as a broader effort to block his White House bid in 2024.
