Meadows Loses Bid to Move Arizona Case to Federal Court

A Phoenix judge has rejected a bid by Mark Meadows, former chief of staff in the Trump administration, to move his case involving allegations of fake electors in Arizona to federal court, marking the second time he has lost a bid to get his charges out of state court.

In a decision Monday, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi said Meadows missed a deadline for asking for his charges to be moved to federal court, didn’t offer a good reason for doing so and failed to show that the allegations against him related to his official duties as chief of staff to the president.

Meadows faces charges in Arizona and Georgia in what authorities allege was an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in former President Donald Trump’s favor. He unsuccessfully tried to move charges in the Georgia case last year. It’s unknown whether Meadows will appeal the decision. The Associated Press left phone and email messages for two of Meadows’ attorneys.

Prosecutors said Meadows worked with other Trump campaign members to submit names of fake electors from Arizona and other states to Congress in a bid to keep Trump in office despite his November 2020 defeat. Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Arizona and Georgia.

In 2020, Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.

The decision sends Meadows’ case back to Maricopa County Superior Court.

In Arizona and Georgia, Meadows argued his charges should be moved to federal court because his actions were taken when he was a federal official working as Trump’s chief of staff and that he has immunity under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states federal law trumps state law.

Arizona prosecutors said Meadows’ electioneering efforts weren’t part of his official duties at the White House.

Meadows last year tried to get his Georgia charges moved but his request was rejected by a judge whose ruling was later affirmed by an appeals court. Meadows has since asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling.

The Arizona indictment alleged Meadows confided to a White House staff member in early November 2020 that Trump had lost the election. Prosecutors said Meadows also had arranged meetings and calls with state officials to discuss the fake-elector conspiracy.

Meadows and other defendants are seeking a dismissal of the Arizona case.

Meadows’ attorneys said nothing their client is alleged to have done in Arizona was criminal. They said the indictment consists of allegations that he received messages from people trying to get ideas in front of Trump – or “seeking to inform Mr. Meadows about the strategy and status of various legal efforts by the president’s campaign.”

In denying the former chief of staff’s request, Tuchi said Meadows wasn’t indicted for facilitating communications to and from the president or staying updated on what was going on in Trump’s campaign.

“Instead, the State has indicted Mr. Meadows for allegedly orchestrating and participating in an illegal electioneering scheme,” the judge wrote. “Few, if any, of the State’s factual allegations even resemble the secretarial duties that Mr. Meadows maintains are the subject of the indictment.”

In all, 18 Republicans were charged in late April in Arizona’s case. The defendants include 11 Republicans who submitted a document claiming Trump won Arizona, another Trump aide and five lawyers connected to the former president.

In August, Trump’s campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors that led to the dismissal of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino became the first person to be convicted in the Arizona case when she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to probation.

The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the forgery, fraud and conspiracy charges in Arizona. Trump wasn’t charged in Arizona, but the indictment refers to him as an unindicted coconspirator.