ATLANTA (NEWSnet/AP) — A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, cannot move charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia to federal court.
In August, Meadows was indicted along with former president Donald Trump and 17 others on charges they illegally conspired to keep the incumbent in power.
Meadows pleaded not guilty in early September.
A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Meadows’ request, affirming a lower-court ruling from September.
Meadows’ attorneys had argued he should be allowed to move the case to federal court because his actions outlined in the indictment were directly related to his duties as a federal official.
Prosecutors said Meadows failed to show any connection between his actions and his official duties and the law allowing federal officials to move a case to federal court doesn’t apply to those who no longer are in office.
Circuit Chief Judge William Pryor wrote that the law “does not apply to former federal officers, and even if it did, the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows’s official duties.”
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