Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) accused former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows of abusing his federal position to interfere with Georgia’s 2020 elections, according to a filing her office submitted to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.
Meadows has repeatedly sought to have his case removed from Fulton County to a federal court, citing his position as a federal official who answered to the president at the time of his alleged crimes. His first attempt was stymied by a federal judge, but an expedited appeal was granted to the 11th Circuit, and Meadows’ lawyers submitted their filing last week. In their filing, the lawyers argued Willis has embarked on an “unnecessary” effort to prevent the removal, and is committing constitutional “errors” in the process.
In its response, Willis’s office claimed Meadows was engaged in “federal meddling in matters of state authority” during Trump’s contest of the 2020 election in Georgia. It claimed Meadows acted outside his duties as Trump’s chief of staff.
Willis’s prosecutors also claim that Meadows often acted outside his official duties to keep the former president from “yelling” at him and seem to suggest Meadows repeatedly traveled to Georgia or interfaced with the Trump campaign to prevent a presidential dressing down.
Meadows, who is a central figure to Willis’s racketeering case against Trump and 18 other defendants, is also accused of asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other elected officials to “violate their oaths of office by unlawfully changing the outcome of the” election to favor Trump, in his personal capacity, which Willis claims means the case should stay in Georgia.
One such call between Trump, Meadows, and Raffensperger was later leaked to The Washington Post in 2021. However, when testifying in August, Raffensperger insisted the phone call was part of a “settlement negotiation” related to ongoing litigation between his office and the Trump campaign.
Some suggested Raffensperger’s clarification could ultimately hurt Willis’s case against Trump, who she also alleges asked Raffensperger to violate his oath of office, though now it seems the secretary of state’s testimony may help Willis keep the case against Meadows in Georgia.
Willis’s office claims that Meadows, as the White House Chief of Staff, should not have participated in a phone call aimed at settling litigation between the Trump campaign and the Georgia Secretary of State because of this and other similar instances, Fulton County argues Meadows was not acting in his official role as White House Chief of Staff, but rather as a private citizen who should be tried in Fulton County.
The three-judge panel at the 11th Circuit has not determined whether they will hear oral arguments for Meadows’ appeal and could decide the case based on written arguments from Meadows and Willis’s office.
In Meadows’ filings, his lawyers allege Willis is taking extraordinary steps to keep the case in Fulton County and argued her behavior raises “serious constitutional concerns” for her office.
“This is not a case where the Chief of Staff went down to Georgia in his private capacity and got in some kerfuffle,” Meadows’ lawyers argued in their filing, “it is a criminal prosecution of the Chief of Staff based on actions taken in the White House while discharging his official duties.”
Should Meadows successfully remove his case from Fulton County, he will be the third defendant to have the case against him separated from the greater Georgia Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act indictment Willis launched against the former president in August.
Earlier this month, attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell successfully had a joint case against them severed from the greater RICO indictment by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who noted that other defendants may need their cases severed before trial.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mark Meadows” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
