Here's why 'invertebrate' Mark Meadows' legal maneuvers won't work: expert

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is putting forward dishonest arguments in his Hail Mary ploy to get the charges against him thrown out in the Georgia elections case, argued former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal on MSNBC Tuesday.

"What do you think is going on with Mark Meadows and why not just go ahead and turn himself in, and if he succeeds in his efforts to move his case to federal court that would — there's nothing about being booked that makes that more difficult?" said anchor Nicolle Wallace.

"Yeah, I think Meadows has been someone who has been talking out of both sides of his mouth," said Katyal. "You know, in a way he seems like a perfect Trump henchman. He is like an invertebrate who doesn't have a commitment to principle or anything else, so it is not surprising he finds himself in this position. I think that dance is unlikely to work in the future. He has so far avoided a federal indictment from Jack Smith, the special counsel, but I think patience is wearing thin, and Georgia, of course, called him on it and said, no, the stuff that you did, Mark Meadows, culminates in a criminal indictment. He committed crimes."

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Meadows, Katyal continued, has filed two arguments with the court, one saying that the case should be removed from state court to federal court, and the other saying his actions were privileged and immune from prosecution altogether — and both of these arguments are "poppycock, to put it mildly."

"For him to move from state prosecution to a federal courthouse requires him to say that he's performing a federal function, and it is true that the president or the chief of staff to the president have broad powers under our Constitution," said Katyal. "But the one place our founders said that the line stops, the place where the president is cut out, is the Electoral College, for the most important of reasons. That's the place in which a sitting president has the most self-interest, he can self-deal. Our founders, you know, cut them out of that. So Meadows and Trump were not performing a federal function. They certainly weren't trying to safeguard the integrity of the election process, like the cockamamie things they say. Of course not ... they were in it for themselves, trying to launch a coup."

"Then this other idea that Meadows is absolutely immune, as Trump has been tweeting this as well — I can't think of anything more ridiculous," Katyal continued. "First of all, back in the Nixon administration, Nixon's chief of staff went to prison for Watergate. He didn't get some absolute immunity or anything like that. If this argument were true, Nicolle, it would mean Biden and his current chief of staff, Jeff Zients, could install Biden as the next president in 2024 and throw out the popular vote. That can't possibly be how the law works. Our Constitution never worked that way. These are bogus arguments through and through, and they will be rejected in due course."

Watch the video below or at the link.

Neal Katyal says Mark Meadows is "talking out of both sides of his mouth"www.youtube.com