Mark Meadows due in Fulton County Courthouse for first hearing on 2020 election charges
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to lay out the details of her case against former President Donald Trump and 18 other co-defendants for their alleged meddling in Georgia's 2020 election. Monday's hearing will focus on the former president's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Meadows participated in the call between former President Donald J. Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where the former president asked Raffensperger to "find" votes.
On Aug. 15, just a day after being indicted, Meadows filed a motion to move his case from state to federal court.
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"The judge, and at this point the federal judge, has to decide whether this case meets the statutory requirements to be in federal court, and that general is was that defendant a federal officer at the time at least some of these allegations were made and was the defendant acting under color of that office at the time," Emory University Law Professor Jonathan Nash said.
Nash said the belief is Meadows will have a more favorable jury pool to choose from at the federal level.
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"In state court in Fulton County you have a jury pool pulled entirely from Fulton County in federal Court in the Northern District of Georgia in the Atlanta division you're drawing jurors from 10 different counties across north Georgia and some of those counties voted more favorably for President Trump," Nash said.
"That's a gamble, but maybe one that Meadows and his attorneys think is worth taking," he added.
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He also said there's concern about bias in state courts.
"There is a concern that states – state courts, state actors – would not view federal actors favorably and would try to criminalize or even just bring civil suits to deter them from doing their responsibilities," Nash explained.
Raffensperger has been subpoenaed to testify in Monday's hearing. Nash stressed no decision of guilt or innocence will be made.
The hearing will be the first time Willis will be presenting her case against Meadows in court. It's not known how this will impact the other defendants, a handful of whom have also filed for their cases to be moved to federal court.