A judge has denied a request by former President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to move an Arizona voter fraud lawsuit to federal court, marking the second time an attempt to move the case out of state court has failed.
U.S. District Judge John Tuch said in his ruling Monday that Meadows had missed the deadline to seek transfer of the charges to federal court and had failed to prove that the charges against him were related to his official duties as chief of staff.
Meadows faces charges in Arizona and Georgia in what authorities say was an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Trump's favor. He unsuccessfully tried to prosecute the Georgia case last year.
While Meadows is not a fake elector in Arizona, prosecutors say he worked with other members of the Trump campaign to submit the names of fake electors for Arizona and other states to Congress in an effort to help Trump stay in power despite his loss in November 2020. Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Arizona and Georgia.
In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.
The ruling sends Meadows' case back to Maricopa County Superior Court.
In both Arizona and Georgia, Meadows argued that the charges should be removed to federal court because his actions were committed while he was a federal employee working as chief of staff to President Trump and that he has immunity under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that federal law takes precedence over state law.
Arizona prosecutors said Meadows' campaign activities were not part of his official White House duties.
Meadows tried to transfer the Georgia charges last year, but his request was rejected. Rejected by the judge The ruling was later Affirmed by the Court of AppealMeadows subsequently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling.
According to the Arizona indictment, Meadows confided to White House staff that Trump had lost the election in early November 2020. Prosecutors say Meadows also arranged meetings and conference calls with state officials to discuss the fake electoral college conspiracy.
Meadows and the other defendants Request for dismissal Regarding the Arizona incident.
Meadows' lawyers said none of the conduct his client allegedly engaged in in Arizona was criminal. They said the indictment consisted of charges that his client received messages from people seeking to relay ideas to President Trump or “individuals seeking to inform Mr. Meadows of the strategy and status of the campaign's various legal efforts.”
Eighteen Republicans were indicted in late April in the Arizona voter fraud lawsuit, including 11 Republicans who filed documents falsely claiming that Trump won Arizona, another Trump aide, and five lawyers with ties to the former president.
In August, Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, who had been working closely with Trump, said: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Cooperation agreement signed After negotiations with prosecutors, her charges were dismissed. Republican activist Lorraine Pellegrino First person convicted in Arizona She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was placed on probation.
The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to forgery, fraud and conspiracy charges in Arizona.
Trump was not charged in Arizona but is mentioned in the indictment as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Arizona's 11 Republican electors met in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, and signed a certificate stating they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claiming that Trump had won the state.
a 1 minute video Documents of the signing ceremony were posted to social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time and were later sent to Congress and the National Archives, but were ignored.
The prosecutor Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin He also faces criminal charges in connection with the fake electoral scheme.
