Washington, Aug 30 (IANS): Former US President Donald Trump’s ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has sought to convince the judge Steve Jones at Fulton County in Georgia's Atlanta that it was part of his federal duties at the White House on whatever he did in the chaotic post-2020 election period when his boss sought to "overturn the election" to stay in power.
Meadows himself took the stand at the court in a roughly three and half hour deposition on Monday and argued that as Trump's right-hand man at the White House, his various attempts to block Trump's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden were part of his official government duties, media reports said.
Meadows actually rolled the dice to get the case moving from a state court to a federal court on grounds that his alleged actions to keep Trump in power actually came under the purview of a federal court rather than a state court.
If the judge is convinced by Meadows' argument, the Trump trial could end up moving from state court to federal court, a more advantageous legal spot for Meadows, Trump and 18 co-defendants.
Prosecuting District Attorney (DA) Fani Willis could see the case going out of her hands just two weeks after the grand jury indicted Trump, Meadows and 17 others on racketeering charges related to efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.
They were all charged under Georgia's unique Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act, generally applied to mobsters, mafias and narco kings. Legal pundits said what happened at Atlanta on Monday were indeed shocking by legal standards, reports said.
Criminal defendants often exploit their constitutional right by refusing to testify in legal proceedings. And even smarter defendants decline to speak publicly about their case while it’s still on-going, CNN reported.
"It's a calculated risk to put a defendant on the stand at any time, certainly during pre-trial motions. And usually, the calculation goes against the defendant," J. Tom Morgan, a former district attorney in DeKalb County, Georgia, said on CNN's "Inside Politics" Monday. "I'm absolutely amazed that he is taking the stand."
Objective of making Meadows stand and speak by prosecutors was to give them the chance to question him on events surrounding the 2020 election where his words can be used against him and the 18 co-defendants in the Fulton County case Trump included. Not to mention in special counsel Jack Smith's federal indictment of Trump for election subversion.
Meadows' argument is that he enjoys federal immunity for his actions as Trump's chief of staff at the White House and therefore wants the case moved out of the hands of a state court , in which case Georgia’s RICO act would not apply to him or his co-defendants.
Any decision by US district judge Steve Jones that's impending in the wake of Meadows arguments as federal duties in the chaotic 2020 events matters to all of the 19 co-defendants that can completely alter the contours of the case and the RICO act putting a hole in DA Fan Willis attempts to prosecute them under state laws, report said.
Trump's lawyers are expected to follow the lead taken by Meadows and file a similar motion (one of Trump's lawyers was spotted in the courthouse Monday). Four additional defendants have already made a motion to move their cases to federal court, too, CNN said.
Jones, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, did not make any remarks or ruling on Meadows' arguments as a federal servant but noted the significance of the issue.
When Meadows' attorney argued in the final stages of Monday's day-long hearings that his client was "entitled to a prompt determination", Jones said he was most likely going to take his time as he thought his ruling will set a precedent for other cases. "If I don't rule by September 6, then he should show up for the arraignment," Jones said of Meadows.
Meadows' testimony was kept a closely guarded secret by his attorney as they did not telegraph they planned to call their client to testify ahead of Monday’s hearing, even as Willis had subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to testify on the January 2021 Trump call to him to “find” enough votes to make him win the state. Several others involved in the call were also subpoenaed.
Meadows has repeatedly connected his questionable actions with his official position as the former president’s chief of staff at the white house and as a duty to attend to, reports said.
Meadows claimed some of his election-related activities related to advising Trump on future legislation concerning election security, a puzzling argument, considering Trump's presidency was ending and he was never known to care about the nitty-gritty of legislation, reports added.
"I dealt with the president's personal position on a number of things. It's still a part of my job to make sure the president is safe and secure and able to perform his job," Meadows said, adding, "Serving the president of the United States is what I do, to be clear. Politics is never far from the White House."