September 8, 2023
Denied.
Former President Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows will not be able to move his Georgia state RICO case into federal court after all. And this ruling, could have a significant impact on other defendants like former President Trump who may also try to move their cases to federal court.
Before I get into this, if you want to read the federal judge’s ruling, I will email it out to you tonight in my news girl news roundup email. So make sure you signed yourself up.
Ok –so just moments ago US District Court judge Steve Jones issued his ruling after a hearing a few weeks ago where Mark Meadow testified at length about why he thought his case should be removed from state court because he was a federal officer, carrying out his official duties at the time the alleged RICO crimes were committed. And in Meadow’s opinion, if he was successful in moving his case to federal court, he thought these Georgia state RICO charges against him should be dismissed.
Well, in his 49 page ruling, Judge Jones disagreed. He says yes, it’s true Mark Meadows was a federal officer at the time these alleged RICO crimes were committed but that’s not enough to move the case to federal court. The judge goes on to say when it comes to the crimes he’s being charged with, he was actually acting as an agent of former President Trump’s campaign not acting as a chief of staff. In case you didn’t know, according to the Hatch Act, it is illegal to mix federal duties with campaign duties. There must be a separation. The judge says meadows “failed to provide sufficient evidence that these actions related to any legitimate purpose of the executive branch.”
Now – it is very likely Mark Meadows will appeal this ruling. But legal experts believed of all the 18 co-defendants he – had one of the best chances of having his case moved to federal court – but now that he has lost that bid, it may cause the other co-defendants to rethink their attempts.
But, at this point several other co-defendants have already filed motions to move their state cases to federal court and as I told you in this video yesterday, former President Trump may also try it. To all those defendants, Judge Jones said just because he ruled this way for Meadows, does not mean this is the way he’d rule for everyone else. He said he will hear everyone’s arguments on a case by case basis.
Read Judge Jones’ ruling here.
