ATLANTA — Donald Trump’s former chief of staff was in federal court in Atlanta on Monday, trying to get his racketeering trial moved out of Fulton County Superior Court.
Meadows insists everything he did was as a federal employee and therefore the case should be heard in federal court.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was inside the courtroom Monday and said Meadows couldn’t fully explain how many of his actions included working with the Trump campaign.
Federal employees are forbidden from working with campaigns. That’s a violation of the Hatch Act.
Meadows is one of the 19 people, including Trump, who have been indicted on racketeering charges and charges they attempted to criminally interfere in Georgia’s 2020 election.
Meadows wants a district court judge to remove his case from Fulton Superior Court and put it into federal court.
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But to do that, he and his lawyers have to convince that judge that everything Meadows did was in his official capacity as a federal employee and chief of staff -- that includes setting up that now infamous phone call between his boss and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
In court, Meadows insisted he set up that call as part of his job responsibilities.
“I don’t know if there’s anything I did that’s outside my scope as chief of staff to the president,” Meadows testified.
But under sharp cross-examination, Meadows had difficulty explaining how that call benefitted anything other than the Trump campaign, especially since it did not include White House counsel and did include Trump campaign attorneys Kurt Hilbert and Alex Kaufman.
“You also have the attorneys that represent the president, Kurt and Alex and Cleta Mitchell, who is not the attorney of record but has been involved, myself and the president,” Meadows said.
Elliot said a ruling on whether the case will be removed to federal court was not expected Monday.
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