Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said Sunday that former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has “an argument to make” in moving his case in Georgia to federal court.
Meadows is among several defendants seeking to move the Georgia case, in which he’s charged alongside former President Trump with racketeering, to federal court, which is seen as having its potential advantages for being heard before a more politically friendly judge and jury.
“He’s [Meadows] got an argument to make, Nancy, there’s no doubt about that under the statutes, there’s an argument to make,” Christie said in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
At a hearing in Atlanta on Monday, Meadows’s attorneys are expected to argue for moving his case to a federal court so he can also in part assert immunity due to the charges relating to his time serving in the executive branch. Christie, a former federal prosecutor, noted moving the venue will depend on the discretion of the trial judge.
“Here’s a federal judge who’s going to be hearing that and he’s going to want to hear all the different evidence and the balancing of the interests in these venue decisions on that basis,” Christie said. “So is there an argument to be made? There’s definitely an argument to be about switching venue to federal court.”
Christie argued a venue switch would not change much, besides likely preventing a televised trial.
“In the end, all of the charges must remain the same,” Christie said. “So, I think that whether Mark Meadows wins that motion or doesn’t is not going to make a substantive difference on how ultimately a jury is going to be asked to make these decisions at the time of the trial.”
Meadows, alongside 18 co-defendants including former President Trump, was charged earlier this month for his role in an alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state.
A federal judge last week rejected Meadows’s request to block his arrest ahead of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) Friday deadline for defendants to surrender. Meadows surrendered Thursday and paid a $100,000 bond via a surety bond.
While Monday’s hearing is focused on Meadows’s request to move the case to federal court, a decision could have implications for other defendants, who could automatically go to federal court with Meadows.
He will be the first of the five co-defendants to make their case for moving the charges to federal court, though Trump and others could follow. If he succeeds, the jury pool would be expanded to less Democrat-heavy areas of suburban Atlanta and have a federal judge oversee the proceedings instead.
To switch courts, Meadows must demonstrate he was a federal officer, that the allegations relate to an act taken “under color of such office” and that he has a plausible federal defense.
Meadows is looking to avoid trial altogether, having already requested the federal court to dismiss his charges upon taking over the case.
He faces two felony counts in the indictment, including racketeering and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.
In the wake of damning testimony about his actions on Jan. 6, Meadows has been largely out of the public eye, despite having been a figure in the past who gravitated toward the limelight.