Trump allies' excuses hammered by ex-prosecutor: They're proving they are 'criminal associates'
Former President Donald Trump's associates have a series of legal strategies designed to try to worm their way out of the Georgia election indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
But these strategies are almost certainly doomed, said former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Tuesday.
"It's not just Trump," said anchor Joy Reid. "I mean, you don't want to go to trial anywhere. But you're starting to see indications that people would much rather go to trial in the federal case. Like, we don't want to be in court with her. You have two people, Jeffrey Clark, who was a former Justice Department official who tried to sort of rig the DOJ in Trump's favor, and David Shafer, who is one of the fake electors in Georgia. They both filed notices on Monday, and they both want their cases moved to federal court."
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"I just want you to evaluate their reasoning here," Reid continued. "[Former White House Chief of Staff Mark] Meadows is trying to say that what he did was connected to his federal role, his role as working for the White House, which — I didn't know one of those roles was stealing an election, but okay, that's his argument. Shafer is making a similar argument, saying because he was an elector who, in his mind, was an elector for the former president, he was acting somehow related to the Electoral Count Act. Do any of those reasons sound credible to you? I see you're starting to laugh."
"No, I think these arguments will fail," said McQuade. "Joy, the standard for removing a case to the federal court is, first, that the person be a federal official, and second, that the conduct that is alleged be within the scope of their official duties. So for both of these men, as well as Mark Meadows, the conduct that's described is not within the scope of their official duties."
"I think one way to think about it is their official duties are to execute the laws of the United States, in the case of Mark Meadows and Jeff Clark," McQuade added. "And this was political activity. This was engaging in conduct that was helping Trump as a candidate, in a campaign posture, not in the scope of their official duties to execute the laws of the United States. David Shafer isn't even a federal official. He says — now, there is a portion of the law that says or people acting under the direction of federal officials. He's supposed to be an elector casting his vote on behalf of the people of the state of Georgia because they voted for him to do that, not acting at the direction of Donald Trump. If anything, this argument really plays into the idea that he's simply a criminal associate taking his orders from Donald Trump."
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