Attorneys representing former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows tried to convince the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday to move the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to a federal court.
However, Politico reports that the hearing did not go as well as Meadows might have hoped, as judges on the panel appeared skeptical of his claims that his case should be moved to a federal court because the crimes he's alleged to have committed were done while he was serving in a federal role as a Trump White House official.
According to Politico, Obama appointee Judge Robin Rosenbaum appeared particularly skeptical of any argument that would contend that "electioneering on behalf of a specific political candidate" and "an alleged effort to unlawfully change the outcome of the election" were really parts of Meadows' official duties as White House chief of staff.
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What's more, the report describes a "particularly bad sign for Meadows" that came when conservative Judge William Pryor Jr., an appointee of former President George W. Bush, opined that cases such as Meadows should only be moved from county to federal courts if the official in charge were still an active, rather than former, White House official.
“That heightened concern might not exist where you have a former officer,” he said about worries that being charged in county courts could hinder an administration's ability to function. “We normally have a presumption that the separate sovereign of a state and its courts are equally faithful to the Constitution of the law and can be trusted.”
