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Meadows asks for Georgia charges to shift to federal court (thehill.com)

submitted 1 year ago by trashhalo to c/politics

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“Mr. Meadows is entitled to remove this action to federal court because the charges against him plausibly give rise to a federal defense based on his role at all relevant times as the White House Chief of Staff to the President of the United States,” attorneys for Meadows wrote in the Tuesday filing in the Northern District of Georgia.

“Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se: arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President’s behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President. One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things,” the filing states.

“This is precisely the kind of state interference in a federal official’s duties that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits.”

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[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

State crimes go in state court, and he can raise his federally-based defense there, where it will be laughed out.

This is a desperate attempt to move the trial away from the cameras in state court.

[–] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And because if Trump does manage to get re-elected, he can pardon himself for federal crimes. He can’t pardon state crimes.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Isn't it still a state crime even if it's moved to a federal court? Still state charges and state standards.

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Petition to remove to federal court is a legitimate thing to do; ~~whether it will be granted is another story. I'm not sure how that plays out,~~ I am hearing now that the bar to get a case moved to federal court is low. All you really have to do is show that you are or were a federal official. I do know that if his case is moved to federal court, the only things that change are:

Venue (would be a federal court)
Judge (would be a federal judge)
Procedural rules (would be federal court rules)
Jury pool
Media coverage (cannot be televised in federal court without a special exception)

The charges remain state charges, the standards by which those charges need to be proven remain the state standards, and the pardon options remain the same as Georgia pardon options (i.e., essentially none).

The thing that these defendants, Trump in particular, want is to not have the trial televised. They want to be able to spin everything inside out to the public; we've seen Trump do that very thing, posting blatant lies, as part of the GA RICO charges. I think the public has a vested interest in being able to witness a case of this nature first hand, and because of that, there is a fair chance that a federal judge would allow it to be televised anyway.

I also wonder whether this request can be taken to mean that Meadows is not cooperating with the Government (yet).