Former White House chief of staff for Donald Trump receives first hearing in election interference case

ATLANTA — Former White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, on Monday became the first defendant charged in the Fulton County 2020 presidential election interference case to receive a hearing on his attempt to move the case to federal court.

The one-time top aide for the former Republican president, who was also indicted earlier this month, testified for several hours on Monday in United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, according to news reports. Meadows is accused of racketeering and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer for his role in a phone call in which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, to “find 11,780 votes,” which would have been enough to tilt Georgia’s election in the outgoing president’s favor.

That phone conversation became a lynchpin in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ yearslong investigation that resulted on Aug. 14 with a grand jury handing down a 41-count indictment against Trump and 18 of his allies on multi-state charges of racketeering and conspiracy related to the 2020 election. Meadows is one of several defendants seeking to have the case moved to a federal court to bolster their legal argument that they acted on behalf of the government.

Meadows claims he was merely performing his job duties to ensure that Trump could carry out his role as president. The conversation with Raffensperger took place a few days prior to the Jan. 6th U.S. Capitol breach as Congress was set to certify Biden’s election. The indictment also alleges Meadows texted a Georgia secretary of state investigator asking if Fulton County’s ballot signature verification could be accelerated if Trump’s campaign provided financial assistance.

Fulton County prosecutors have disputed Meadows’ claims that he legally acted in his capacity as Trump’s advisor. The attorneys for Meadows argue their client cannot be prosecuted at the state level since federal law prohibits states from prosecuting federal officers who are acting in their official capacities.

Meadows admitted on Monday that he was unsure whether some attorneys on the Raffensperger call should be considered a Trump campaign attorney, CNN reported. He also claimed that the phone call was made out of concern about a signature verification process for absentee ballots after mail-in ballots helped Democratic candidate Joe Biden narrowly win the presidential contest in Georgia.

“It’s still a part of my job to make sure the president is safe and secure and able to perform his job,” Meadows testified on Monday.

Meadow’s four-hour hearing took place before Judge Steve Jones in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The downtown Atlanta courtroom is just a few blocks away from the Fulton County courthouse, where Willis is pursuing a historic racketeering and conspiracy case against a former sitting president who is now the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Meadows’ attorneys are trying to move the case to federal jurisdiction to boost the possibility that Meadows will get consideration as a federal officer and improve his chances for a not guilty verdict or outright dismissal of the case. Fulton County is a heavily Democratic county and moving Meadows’ case to federal court also increases the chance of securing a more conservative group of jurors.