Earlier we told you that Mark Meadows is trying to move his trial from the state of Georgia to federal court because of his status as a federal employee, specifically as former White House Chief of Staff.
Well that hearing is today and, according to the WSJ, it will force Fani Willis to show some of her cards in her case against Trump:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to preview her racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants on Monday, when prosecutors from her office will appear in court to oppose an effort by Mark Meadows to move charges against him to federal court.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones has scheduled a full-day hearing to determine whether Meadows’s status as Trump’s former White House chief of staff protects him from being tried in state court.
The hearing deals with a jurisdictional question, not the ultimate question of whether Meadows is guilty or innocent. But it will offer a preview of the evidence Willis plans to use against the 19 defendants and mark the first major court date for her office since it brought the sprawling racketeering case two weeks ago.
The hearing is expected to include testimony from at least four witnesses. They include Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who pushed back against Trump’s false election-fraud claims. Raffensperger received a subpoena requiring his testimony, according to court records.
If Jones grants Meadows’s request for removal to federal court and the case goes to trial, the jury would be drawn from a more GOP-leaning population than would a jury from Fulton County alone, but Willis would still try the case under Georgia law.
Jones’s eventual ruling will help determine the contours of the case, which alleges a criminal plot by Trump and some of his closest advisers to subvert democracy after Trump narrowly lost Georgia’s Electoral College votes.
The judge overseeing this hearing today is an Obama appointee:
Willis’s case has already become a procedural mess, in part because of Meadows’s request for removal, said Andrew Fleischman, a Georgia defense lawyer not involved in the case.
Four other defendants have sought removal to federal court, including Jeff Clark, a former Justice Department lawyer.
Jones, the Obama appointee assigned to Meadow’s removal request, will also rule on Clark’s motion and has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 18.
Trump will likely also seek a transfer to federal court, people familiar with the matter said, but isn’t among those who have already moved to do so.
If Meadows loses this request for a federal trial, I’m sure he’ll appeal the decision to a higher court. With this being an Obama appointed judge, he’ll probably have to do just that.