Mark Meadows – former chief of staff for Donald Trump – who is facing an indictment by Fulton County in Georgia – has filed a notice of removal, requesting that his case be moved to federal courts on the grounds that he was a federal employee at the time of his conduct as described in the indictment occurred.
Meadows’ problem is that the evidentiary hearing for his removal has not been scheduled until Monday, August 28th. Meanwhile, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis set a deadline for Friday, August 25th at noon for all 19 defendants to surrender themselves to authorities.
Meadows, via his attorneys, sought emergency relief from the federal court to which he is attempting to have his case removed. His motion asked Judge Steven C. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to grant immediate removal of the matter or, alternatively, to enter an order prohibiting Willis from arresting him prior to the District Court’s hearing on Monday.
Judge Jones ordered Willis to submit its response to Meadows’ Motion by Wednesday, 3:00 pm Eastern time. The response was submitted just before the deadline.
Now, Judge Jones has denied Meadows’ motion.
BREAKING x2: Judge has now *denied* Mark MEADOWS’ bid to stave off his arrest and quickly remove his Fulton County charges to federal court. https://t.co/OfMNnCRfJL pic.twitter.com/FdgjIesTpo
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 23, 2023
Jones explained in a six-page order why he thinks the cases cited as support for Meadows’ motion are distinct and not applicable to this case. The judge cited the language in the statute regarding removal, which requires an evidentiary proceeding before the court can determine if it has proper jurisdiction over the case. This is the reason why he couldn’t grant immediate removal. The judge also cited the language in the statute that “clearly requires state criminal proceedings to continue until the Federal court has assumed jurisdiction” as a reason why he couldn’t enjoin Willis.
This ruling is not meant to imply that Meadows won’t be able, in the end, to move his case to federal court. It also has no bearing on Meadows’ claim of immunity. The District Court declined to intervene before the Monday evidentiary hearing. Meadows must turn himself in, along with the other defendants by Friday, unless he appeals immediately Judge Jones’ order. There is currently no indication that Meadows will do so.
In a similar fashion, Judge Jones rejected Jeffrey Clark’s request for a stay in the state court proceedings citing federalism principles. Clark will also have to surrender himself to Fulton County law enforcement before the deadline of Friday if he does not appeal.
We also reported that Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and their co-defendants surrendered themselves to the authorities on Wednesday afternoon. Former President Trump announced that he would surrender himself to authorities on Thursday.