ATLANTA — A federal judge denied former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' request to move his 2020 Georgia election case out of Fulton County court.
U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones ruled Friday evening that Meadows failed to prove that the "removal of the State of Georgia's case against him is proper under the federal officer removal statute," and that the actions Meadows allegedly took were outside his role as a key adviser to former President Donald Trump.
The case will not head to federal court. Meadows filed a notice Friday night, indicting he will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
"The Court concludes that Meadows has not met even the 'quite low' threshold for removal. Again, what the Court must decide for purposes of federal officer removal is whether the actions Meadows took as a participant in the alleged enterprise (the charged conduct) were related to his federal role as White House Chief of Staff," Jones wrote in his order. "The Court finds Meadows only carried his burden in showing that one of the eight overt acts attributed to Meadows could have occurred within the scope of Meadows's federal office."
The ruling comes after Meadows testified for roughly three-and-a-half hours in front of Jones in late August. Meadows and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger were the key figures in the six-hour hearing.
Prosecutors with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office argued during the hearing that Meadows was not acting in his official capacity. Instead, prosecutors allege that Meadows violated the Hatch Act — a 1939 law prohibiting civil service employees, excluding the president and vice president, from engaging in political activity. The call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the Cobb County audit appearance, and other acts alleged in the indictment were not necessary duties, but political actions aimed at keeping Trump in the White House, prosecutors said.
“The scope of official duties ends at political activity,” said Chief Senior District Attorney Donald Wakeford.
Meadows' legal team argued president’s chief of staff has a broad delegation of federal authority. Meadows testified that his day-to-day responsibilities were nearly “24/7” and included everything from “informal” contacts with policymakers at the state level to consulting on matters of national security.
Meadows argued that he undertook these actions, like appearing at the absentee ballot audit, to better inform the president. None of the actions alleged in the indictment were outside his scope of chief of staff, he testified.
Four of Meadows' codefendants have filed to move their cases to federal court as of Friday. They are:
Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark
Former Georgia GOP Chair and Trump elector David Shafer
Current Georgia Senator and Trump elector Shawn Still
Former Coffee County GOP chair and Trump elector Cathy Latham
None of these motions have been ruled on. A hearing on Clark's request is set for Sept. 18.
Attorneys for former President Trump have hinted they may request his case be moved from Fulton County to federal court.
11Alive reporter Zach Merchant contributed to this report.