Donald Trump Georgia Elections Case: Mark Meadows Testifies in Bid To Transfer Case to Federal Jurisdiction
The opening gambit for the Donald Trump Georgia election case has been made as former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows took the stand on Monday as Fulton County prosecutors cross-examined him in his bid to try and get the case transferred from Georgia to a federal jurisdiction.
Meadows reportedly testified about his job and talked about then-President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia. Meadows is one of 19 co-defendants in the sprawling Georgia RICO case that involves the former reality star-turned-POTUS.
According to CNN, Meadows is trying to convince the judge that as the Trump White House chief of staff, his various attempts to block Joe Biden's election win against his then-boss was part of his official government duties.
Should the judge agree with Meadows, the Georgia case could be moved to Federal Court. This means that should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election, he could pardon himself and his 19 co-defendants. However, this is a gamble as this also makes Meadows open for cross-examination from Georgia prosecutors who could use anything he says against him and the 18 other co-defendants.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is also investigating Trump's election subversion attempts at a federal level, could also use his testimony against Trump.
Mark Meadows Grilled About Donald Trump's 'Perfect Phone Call'
Mark Meadows was first questioned by his own attorney, George Terwilliger III.
"It was a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week kind of job," the former Trump chief of staff testified. "It was a very broad responsibility. ... I found myself on defense a lot with things coming at me from a million different directions."
However, prosecutors grabbed this chance to grill the Trump ally about his participation regarding his former boss's "perfect phone call" with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state's chief election official. In that infamous phone call, Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" nearly 12,000 votes in an effort to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.
Prosecutors also called Raffensperger to testify and certify that the audio recording of that call was accurate, according to Politico. They then played that recording in court, and the Georgia election official admitted that Donald Trump did not win the state by 500,000 votes or anything close to it.
Another audio was played during the hearing, this time of Mark Meadows, with the Trump chief of staff telling Raffensperger that his office was inaccurate when it said only two dead people were recorded as voting. Meadows reportedly insisted that there was more. Raffensperger said he was right to a degree as they actually found four, which was not enough to make up for Biden's 11,779 vote lead in the state.
Donald Trump May Not Attend Georgia Arraignment
Meadows's former boss, Donald Trump, may not show up to his arraignment in Georgia next week. Two sources familiar with the ex-president's plans told CBS News that "Trump is considering waiving his arraignment appearance."
His next court appearance is scheduled for September 6, and it was noted that the "Fulton County Superior Court allows defendants to appear virtually for arraignments or waive their right to appear at all."
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: 'Very shaky ground': McCabe on Mark Meadows taking the stand - CNN
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