Former Donald Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is attempting to move his Arizona election subversion criminal case to federal court in an effort to have the charges against him dismissed.
If the bid is successful, it could give Meadows a significant boost by invoking federal immunity extended to certain individuals who are prosecuted or sued for conduct tied to their US government roles.
A grand jury in Arizona handed up an indictment in April against Meadows and 17 other associates of former President Donald Trump over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, including the fake electors from that state and several individuals connected to his campaign. Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Attorneys for Meadows argued in court papers filed Wednesday that the indictment “squarely relates” to Meadows’ official conduct as Trump’s last chief of staff.
“Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se. Rather, it consists of allegations that he received (and occasionally responded to) messages from people who were trying to get ideas in front of President Trump or seeking to inform Mr. Meadows about the strategy and status of various legal efforts by the President’s campaign,” they wrote.
“This is 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 from adjudication in a state court,” the attorneys argued.
US District Judge John Tuchi scheduled a hearing for September 5. Tuchi was a nominee of former President Barack Obama.
Meadows is no stranger to the legal gambit. Last year, he mounted a similar effort in Georgia after he was indicted in Fulton County on similar 2020 election subversion state charges.
In a major gamble, he testified under oath at the evidentiary hearing in that case about his White House role and how he tried to guide Trump through the 2020 transition. But the federal judge in that case concluded that the evidence “overwhelmingly suggests that Meadows was not acting in his scope of executive branch duties” during most of the actions alleged in that Georgia indictment.
A federal appeals court later affirmed the judge’s ruling, and Meadows has asked the US Supreme Court to review the matter.
The Arizona indictment is separate from the Georgia case, though some of the alleged conduct overlaps, related to Meadows’ activities after Trump’s 2020 loss.
