Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows may have put himself in “peril” by testifying in court ahead of his actual trial in Georgia, according to former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance.
Meadows, who served as chief of staff for former President Donald Trump during his final year in office, was among the 18 individuals criminally indicted in connection with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Meadows was hit with two state-level criminal charges, for racketeering and for solicitation of a public officer. He is the second White House chief of staff in United States history to face criminal charges.
As the case moves forward, Meadows is also among the handful of defendants seeking to have their cases removed from Fulton County to a federal court. The federal “removal statute” allows for individuals serving as officers of the U.S. to have state-level criminal charges moved to a federal court, if the conduct at the heart of the charges occurred while the individuals were in office and were within the purview of the office.
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Legal experts who previously spoke with Newsweek said that there was a decent chance that Trump and certain others might be able to successfully petition for this removal in Georgia. Such a move is seen by many as beneficial, as a federal trial would be more likely to draw a friendlier Trump-appointed judge and a potentially friendlier jury pool compared to the strongly Democratic Fulton County.
Petitioning for the move, however, might also pose risks for the likes of Meadows, who testified in federal court Monday about why such a change should be enacted. During a Saturday appearance on MSNBC, Vance, who previously served as a U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, told host Katie Phang that testifying under oath like that before his official trial could put him in “peril.”
“As a criminal defendant, any time you testify under oath in advance of trial, it’s risky,” Vance said. “And it was a surprise here with Meadows. He’s represented by a former deputy attorney general, he’s got a great team of lawyers working with him. I think it’s tough to view this as anything other than a misstep, certainly, as parts of the transcript are released and we see where Meadows has been contradictory. In some regards, I think ‘contradictory’ may be putting the best possible face on his testimony. That’s the peril that defendants in criminal cases expose themselves to when they expose in settings like this.”
She continued: “And Meadows arguably has the best case of any of the defendants for a removal because as the chief of staff, he does have extensive duties. He does, as his lawyer said, have to keep the chief of staff hat on even when the president is on personal business.”
Newsweek attempted to reach representatives for Meadows for comment.