CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Wednesday former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has a “strong” defense in the Georgia case.
Meadows is charged with racketeering. Honig called the allegation that Meadows “facilitated this whole effort on Donald Trump’s behalf to steal the election” a “very broad” allegation. Meadows was also charged with “solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer” in relation to setting up a call between Trump and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“Mark Meadows arranged the call and was on the call, but he doesn’t really say that much,” Honig said.(RELATED: CNN Guest Warns Majority-Black Jury Spells Trouble For Trump In Georgia Case)
Meadows has made a motion to remove the case from state court to federal, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wouldn’t have jurisdiction. Honig explained why Meadows will likely argue to move the case to federal court.
“What that law essentially says is that you can remove to the federal district court of the United States if what you’re charged for is any act by an officer of the United States — Meadows will say ‘I was chief of staff at the White House’ — and this is the key phrase, under color of such office. It’s not, ‘well you were chief of staff, game over.’ It is ‘was your conduct under color of what you are supposed to be doing in that job?’,” Honig explained.
“This to me is so interesting and and so central not just to the Georgia case but the federal cases also. Under color of such office. Mark Meadows and maybe Trump eventually will argue that ‘we did this because, you know, I was president of the United States or as president of the United States or chief of staff to president of the United States. Not as a political candidate for office,’ how do you split that hair?” host John Berman asked.
“I think Donald Trump is sure to make this motion too,” Hoeing said. “I actually think Mark Meadows has a stronger case here because Mark Meadows will say ‘as chief of staff, what am I doing here? I’m arranging meetings, I’m arranging phone calls, I’m visiting the states. I’m doing what the president tells me to do.’ Donald Trump is going to have a little bit of a more difficult road because the president is not supposed to have a direct hands-on role in elections. That’s reserved for states, but Trump will say ‘in my capacity as chief executive I was ‘taking care’ — there is a part of the Constitution that says the president shall take care that laws be faithfully executed — He will argue ‘I was trying to do my job as president.'”
A grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump late Monday night for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The jury also indicted 18 others, including Trump allies Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark and Kenneth Chesebro.