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Same strategy, different state: Mark Meadows tries to move AZ fake electors case to federal court

Mark Meadows FILE PHOTO: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to reporters following a television interview, outside the White House in Washington, U.S. October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Al Drago/File Picture (Alexander Drago/REUTERS)

ATLANTA — The former Chief of State for former President Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, is using the same strategy he did in Georgia, to try and get his case moved to federal court in Arizona.

Meadows is facing similar charges in Arizona as he does here in Georgia alleging that he was involved in an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Trump’s favor.

Prosecutors said Meadows worked with other Trump campaign members to submit names of fake electors from Arizona and other states to Congress in a bid to keep Trump in office despite his November 2020 defeat.

The Arizona indictment also says Meadows confided to a White House staff member in early November 2020 that Trump had lost the election.

Here in Georgia, Meadows faces two charges of violation of the Georgia RICO Act and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

He has tried several times here in Georgia, unsuccessfully, to have his case moved to federal court.

Fani Willis and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office argue that Meadows violated the Hatch Act and that the case should stay on the state level. Willis issued subpoenas for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and investigator Francis Watson to appear at the hearing.

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Meadows participated in the now-infamous phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, in which the former president pressured Raffensperger to overturn the election results and find him 11,000 votes.

A week earlier, Meadows allegedly arranged another phone call between Trump and Watson, whose team was overseeing a signature match audit in Cobb County. During the signature match audit process in Dec. 2020, Meadows showed up unannounced, stayed for roughly 20 minutes, and left without speaking to the media.

Meadows and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty to the forgery, fraud, and conspiracy charges in Arizona.

Trump wasn’t charged in Arizona, but the indictment refers to him as an unindicted coconspirator.

Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.

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