In Georgia case, former Trump aide Meadows says he was doing his job
By Jack Queen
ATLANTA (Reuters) -Donald Trump’s onetime White House chief of staff Mark Meadows testified on Monday that he was doing his job when he helped Trump try to reverse his 2020 election loss, as the former aide sought to have his criminal case moved to potentially more favorable terrain in federal court.
Meadows argued that a state court in Democratic-heavy Fulton County was not the proper venue for a sweeping case that accuses Trump and other co-defendants of racketeering and other crimes.
Meadows is accused of arranging calls and meetings in which prosecutors say Trump pressured election officials to change the vote count in his favor.
Prosecutors argued that those acts were not «necessary and proper» duties for a U.S. president and his chief of staff, but Meadows said they were part of his portfolio as Trump's top White House aide.
«There was a political component to everything we did,» Meadows testified in federal court in Atlanta.
Federal law prohibits states from prosecuting the activities of U.S. officials carrying out their duties.
The hearing is the first major court battle in the case in which prosecutors accuse Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and 18 of his Republican allies of trying to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, whom Trump asked during a phone call to “find” enough votes for him to win, has been called to testify at the hearing by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, an elected Democrat who brought the charges.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones said little during the hearing but appeared skeptical of Meadows' argument, asking at one point if there was any part of the
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