A federal judge on Monday denied former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ request to have the Arizona fake elector case against him moved to federal court from Arizona state court.
Meadows, along with 17 others, was charged in Arizona with forgery and conspiracy over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state. He has pleaded not guilty.
In August, Meadows’ attorneys argued the case should be moved to federal court because the indictment “squarely relates to Mr. Meadows’s conduct as Chief of Staff to the President.” The argument is similar to the one Meadows has made for months in his Fulton County, Georgia, case, citing a law that calls for the removal of criminal proceedings when someone is charged for actions they allegedly took as a federal official.
Mark Meadows, left, Stephen Binhak and Jim Eastman appear virtually during a pre-trial hearing in the fake electors case in Maricopa County Superior Court on Aug. 28, 2024, in Phoenix.
Cheryl Evans/AP
U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tuchi said the state charges — nine felony counts for his role in the effort to overturn former President Donald Trump’s Arizona election loss — is “unrelated” to Meadows’ official duties.
“Although the Court credits Mr. Meadows’s theory that the Chief of Staff is responsible for acting as the President’s gatekeeper, that conclusion does not create a causal nexus between Mr. Meadows’s official authority and the charged conduct,” Tuchi said.
“The Court finds that Mr. Meadows fails to present good cause for his untimely filing of his Notice of Removal, and that in any event, an evaluation on the merits yields that he fails to demonstrate that the conduct charged in the state’s prosecution relates to his former color of office as Chief of Staff to the President,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement in response to the ruling. “The Court therefore will remand this matter to the state court.”
Earlier this summer, charges were dropped against former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis in exchange for cooperation in the case.
A recent development in the ongoing controversy surrounding the 2020 presidential election has seen a judge ruling against former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ request to transfer a case involving fake electors in Arizona to federal court. The decision marks a significant setback for Meadows and his legal team, who had hoped to have the case heard at the federal level.
The case in question centers around a group of individuals who falsely claimed to be electors for the state of Arizona during the certification of the 2020 election results. These fake electors submitted their own set of electoral votes for then-President Donald Trump, in an attempt to overturn the results of the election in favor of the former president.
Meadows, who served as Chief of Staff under Trump, had sought to have the case transferred to federal court, arguing that the issues at hand were a matter of federal law. However, the judge overseeing the case disagreed, ruling that the case should remain in state court where it was originally filed.
The decision is a blow to Meadows and his legal team, who had hoped that a federal court would be more sympathetic to their arguments. It also represents a victory for those who have been fighting to uphold the integrity of the 2020 election results and prevent any attempts to undermine the democratic process.
The ruling highlights the importance of upholding the rule of law and ensuring that all legal challenges to election results are heard and adjudicated fairly. It also serves as a reminder that attempts to subvert the will of the voters through fraudulent means will not be tolerated.
As the case moves forward in state court, it will be interesting to see how it unfolds and what impact it may have on future efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election. In the meantime, the ruling against Meadows’ request to transfer the case to federal court stands as a significant milestone in the ongoing battle to protect the integrity of our electoral system.
