Judge denies Mark Meadows' bid to move Georgia election case to federal court
Judge denies Mark Meadows' bid to move Georgia election case to federal court
The former White House chief of staff had argued that the charges against him in Fulton County related to his actions as a federal official serving in the Trump administration.
Excellent news. Of course they want want to move to Fed. Court, so they have the potential for presidential pardons. Fuck every one of these seditionist assholes.
State charges wouldn't be pardonable in Federal court, what it WOULD do is widen the jury pool outside Fulton County and block the TV cameras.
Getting jurors from outside Fulton county being the primary goal given how hard that county broke for Biden in 2020:
J. Biden Dem. - 73% - 380,212
D. Trump Rep. - 26% - 137,247
Meadows incriminated himself for five hours on the stand. Getting cross examined under oath. What a collosal risk.
If he's got half a brain, he's calling Fani Willis this weekend and making a deal.
“The Court finds that the color of the Office of the White House Chief of Staff did not include working with or working for the Trump campaign, except for simply coordinating the President’s schedule, traveling with the President to his campaign events, and redirecting communications to the campaign,” Jones wrote. “Thus, consistent with his testimony and the federal statutes and regulations, engaging in political activities is exceeds the outer limits of the Office of the White House Chief of Staff.”
He also admits to violating the Hatch Act, under oath.
Re: Hatch Act violations:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-news-2664771297/
"“Not only that, but Meadows is saying ‘he would have yelled at me if I didn't do it.’ That alone is also a violation of the Hatch Act. It's not just that President Trump was involved in the false electoral scheme, but he's getting his chief of staff to do it. And the chief of staff knows if I don't do this he's gonna yell at me. That is a Hatch Act violation. One of the one of the only provisions of the Hatch Act that actually do apply to the president. You're not allowed to, as president, tell an employee or intimidate an employee into engaging in political activity on behalf of a candidate. What else is that?“"
Like the time trump held a campaign rally in the Rose Garden of the White House.
Should have just let Trump yell at him.
edit:
"The DA's office countered that White House officials shouldn't be involved in political campaigns. “Federal law prohibits employees of the executive branch from engaging in political activity in the course of their work,” they noted, pointing to the Hatch Act, a law Meadows once told Politico “nobody outside of the Beltway really cares” about."
oof, I say oof, boy
For those wondering about the "I didn't want to get yelled at" defense, there's a good breakdown here:
What is the beltway?
It's the ring road that sounds Washington DC and it's inner suburbs in Virginia and Maryland. The designation is 495 of you are really curious about the road itself for some reason.
Refers to the Capital Beltway, so greater Washington, DC, including some of Virginia and Maryland.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A judge on Friday denied former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' bid to move the Georgia criminal case against him to federal court, ruling that his alleged involvement in efforts to pressure state leaders to overturn the 2020 election results was not a part of his official duties as a government official.
State prosecutors, Jones said, had “put forth evidence that at various points during the time of the alleged conspiracy Meadows worked with the Trump campaign, which he admitted was outside of the role of the White House Chief of Staff."
The indictment in Fulton County alleges Trump, Meadows and the 17 others engaged in schemes aimed at subverting the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, a battleground state that was won by Joe Biden.
The conduct giving rise to the charges in the indictment all occurred during his tenure and as part of his service as Chief of Staff,” Meadows’ lawyers wrote in a 14-page filing.
The law “bars a federal employee from ‘us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election’” — exactly the conduct Meadows is charged with, prosecutors noted.
In his ruling, Jones agreed that "engaging in political activities exceeds the outer limits of the Office of the White House Chief of Staff.” He also declined to consider Meadows' immunity claim, since he found he was acting outside the scope of his duties.
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He forgot to say “please”