Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has filed a motion to have the case against him, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, moved to federal court.
This development comes just one day after Meadows, along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others, was indicted on charges related to alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Meadows' legal team, consisting of attorneys George Terwilliger and Joseph Englert, argued that the case involves federal law, specifically pertaining to Meadows' actions as a federal official.
"Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se: arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President's behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President," stated Terwilliger in the filing. "One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to engage in these types of activities."
The attorney further contended that what is happening to Meadows constitutes "precisely the kind of state interference in a federal official's duties that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits, and that the removal statute shields against."
If Meadows' motion to dismiss the indictment and transfer the case to federal court is successful, it would effectively bring the state-court proceedings to a halt, according to the court filing.
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