Mark Meadows facing 'hard time' if his latest gambit fails: ex-prosecutor
For former President Donald Trump's one-time chief of staff Mark Meadows, everything is riding on his motion to remove the Georgia election racketeering case against him to federal court — which could dictate everything from the jury pool to the sentencing stakes, said former federal prosecutor Harry Litman on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" Friday.
This comes as an evidentiary hearing for the motion is scheduled for Monday, where Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Secretary of State Elections Division chief Frances Watson will act as witnesses.
"Meadows, to date — he's been successful on the slalom run, but now, should he lose this hearing and be back in the jaws of the Fulton County proceedings, he's really looking at hard time in a Georgia jail that Trump cannot pardon away," said Litman. "Maybe there's a solution for Trump, but not the other 18. For what's important on Monday, the judge has said, show me some evidence why you were really in your official scope of responsibilities ... Willis is going to call Raffensperger and his chief investigator, who will say, he's obviously pushing me to change an election result, that's against the law. What is Meadows going say in reverse to contradict it? Because I think it's pretty clear, he can't testify. He could maybe weave his own way on direct, but he would be clobbered on cross-examination. So he's going to have to carry his burden with evidence, real evidence that doesn't include his own testimony."
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
And, Litman reiterated, "the stakes for him literally could not be higher. It's the difference between navigating the whole giant slalom and maybe coming out clean, and literally a disaster of many years in a Georgia state prison."
All that said, Litman added, it's not a sure thing that Meadows will lose his motion.
"I just want to note, I agree with you that his claim should not succeed, but it's nowhere near as weak as Trump's, and we're in a circuit that is very pro-removal," said Litman. "That's his first step. Then we get to immunity, and so the case law is pretty much for him, but it's going to come down to how the judge takes his characterization of his duties. There's a few things, I agree, that it's hard to construe as anything possibly within a chief of staff's responsibilities, but he has put in descriptions that 75 percent, at least, give an argument. So we have covered this ground before. I know it's galling, but he has an actual shot Monday, I think, and I think many people would have that same view. It shouldn't prevail, but the law is very deferential, and this circuit in particular is very deferential as well."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
Leave a Comment
Related Post