Donald Trump faces 13 charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment in Georgia state court, although the former president could make a play for a venue change to a federal court with a different jury pool and camera bans.
If Trump were tried in state court, Georgia law includes special provisions to allow cameras during judicial proceedings so long as a judge approves, meaning it would be the first and only one of Trump's four criminal legal cases to be televised. The former president has previously challenged courtroom venues and in some cases the presiding judges, and if successful in Fulton County, the public may not have livestream viewing options in a federal courthouse.
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On Tuesday, Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows became the first of the 19 defendants in the sweeping racketeering indictment to attempt to relocate his case to federal court in Atlanta. Meadows's counsel argues he holds a right to change venues because the alleged criminal conduct happened "during his tenure and as part of his service as chief of staff," according to a 14-page filing.
Changing the courtroom venue from Fulton County to federal court could benefit Trump, who is seeking another four years in the Oval Office, and Meadows, as they could be more likely to draw from a more politically friendly jury pool or even wind up with a judge appointed by the former president.
Typically, jurors in a federal court trial would be selected from 10 counties in the Atlanta division, which includes five where Trump gained at least 36% of the vote. However, there are certain exceptions to this rule. For example, in the trial of the three men convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, jurors were culled from the entire 43-county Southern District of Georgia rather than the seven-county Brunswick division due to the high-profile and sensitive nature of the case.
If Trump's case were to cast a wider net, it would be selected from 46 counties from the Northern District, which include conservative beacons that elected GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andrew Clyde, and Barry Loudermilk.
U.S. District Court Judge Steve CarMichael Jones, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, will be the deciding jurist over Meadows's latest bid to move to federal court.
Although the former president was rejected in separate motions to move his Manhattan criminal indictment to federal court and remove the presiding judge in the case, legal experts say Trump is likely to attempt such a move again in Georgia.
"I would imagine that Mr. Trump would seek to move the case to federal court for the trial," Trump impeachment lawyer David Schoen told Newsmax on Monday.
In his New York case, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein held that Trump's lawyers failed to show that the conduct charged in the indictment related to any act done by Trump as president. Notably, Trump is indicted in that jurisdiction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, his first of three indictments that stem from conduct before his time as president.
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was purely a personal item of the president — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” Hellerstein ruled. “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts.”
But the circumstances surrounding the sweeping racketeering case in Georgia could provide a better chance for Trump and some of his 18 other co-defendants to get their cases taken to federal court.
Under a so-called removal statute enacted by Congress in 1948 to protect federal officials from harassment by state officials, Trump could meet the necessary conditions to move his case to federal court. Those conditions require that a defendant at the time of the alleged offense must have been a federal official, that they must be facing charges “for or relating to any act under color of such office,” and they must cite “a colorable federal defense.”
Attorneys for Meadows argued his conduct that gave "rise to the charges in the indictment all occurred during his tenure and as part of his service as Chief of Staff."
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"In these circumstances, federal law provides for prompt removal of a 'criminal prosecution ... commenced in a State court ... against or directed to' a federal official, 'in an official or individual capacity, for or relating to any act under color of [his] office," Meadows's counsel wrote.
Trump may seek to argue that the statute applies to him because the crimes he is accused of happened while he was in office. But even if Trump succeeds in removing the case, the offenses are still Georgia state crimes, meaning a president couldn't pardon the 13 charges.