A federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to rule that he was fulfilling his official duties in his efforts to keep Donald Trump in power despite his loss in the 2020 election.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge John Tuchi rejects Meadows’ attempt to block a criminal case brought by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who charged the former Trump adviser and more than a dozen others with conspiracy to undermine the 2020 election. Trump is described as an unindicted accomplice in the state’s case.
Prosecutors accused Meadows of helping Trump implement a scheme to deliver lists of fraudulent presidential electors to Congress after the 2020 election from several states where Joe Biden won the popular vote. The effort was part of a broad plan by the former president to remain in power despite losing the election.
Meadows had asked Tuchi to transfer his case to federal court, where he expected to be able to argue that he was immune from the criminal charges because they related to his official role as Trump’s chief of staff.
He argued that the charges largely concerned the chief of staff’s key functions, from arranging phone calls to keeping Trump briefed on policy and political matters to acting as a gatekeeper to the Oval Office. Meadows also argued that the Supreme Court’s recent endorsement of a sweeping view of presidential immunity bolstered his argument.
Tuchi said Meadows’ argument was based on a distorted representation of the charges against him.
“Contrary to Mr. Meadows’ claims, the State has not charged Mr. Meadows with merely facilitating communications to and from the President or simply staying informed about the campaign,” Tuchi wrote in a 15-page ruling. “Instead, the State has charged Mr. Meadows with allegedly orchestrating and participating in an illegal election program. Few, if any, of the State’s factual allegations even resemble the secretarial duties that Mr. Meadows claims are the subject of the indictment.”
Tuchi noted that prosecutors in Arizona have alleged that Meadows played an active role in explaining to political associates how Trump’s election plan would work, that he worked with Republican Party leaders to pursue legal action to overturn the election, that he orchestrated the disbursement of campaign funds for the Nevada post-election effort and that he told allies in Congress about his involvement in the election efforts.
“Mr. Meadows did not so much withdraw the state’s complaint as rewrite it,” the Obama-appointed judge wrote.
Meadows has suffered a series of legal defeats in his attempts to dismiss criminal cases against him in Arizona and Georgia. A federal judge and an appellate court in Georgia, where Meadows faces similar charges, rejected his bid to transfer that state’s case to federal court. It is unclear whether he plans to appeal further.
