A federal judge on Wednesday rejected efforts by former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and ex-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to avoid arrest if they fail to turn themselves in by Friday’s deadline in the Georgia election subversion case.
US District Judge Steve Jones declined the emergency requests by Meadows and Clark, who are both trying to move Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution to federal court.
Meadows argued he should be allowed to avoid processing in the Fulton County election subversion case that has been brought against former President Donald Trump and 18 others ahead of a hearing scheduled Monday.
“(T)he clear statutory language for removing a criminal prosecution, does not support an injunction or temporary stay prohibiting District Attorney Willis’s enforcement or execution of the arrest warrant against Meadows,” Jones wrote.
In a separate order, Jones turned down Clark’s emergency request, which was more sweeping and argued that the entirety of the state court proceedings – including any attempt to arrest any of the 19 defendants who did not turn themselves in this week – should automatically be put on hold.
Willis told the federal court in court filings earlier Wednesday that it should not interfere in any efforts to arrest Meadows, calling his request for the court’s intervention “improper” and “baseless.”
“It should be noted the defendant’s former boss, the former president of the United States, voluntarily agreed to surrender himself to state authorities, while other defendants have already surrendered,” Willis’ office said.
She made similar arguments in a filing submitted Wednesday afternoon in response to the request by Clark.
“Defendant Clark boldly asks this court for expeditious action when he himself has shown no…
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