Reacting to U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones late Friday ruling that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows may not have his election tampering case moved to a federal court, former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele said that was a major blow not only to Meadows but also all of the other 18 Georgia co-conspirators facing RICO charges including Donald Trump.
As Steele put it, any hopes that defense attorneys might have had in the outcome of the Meadows hearing died a quick death.
Speaking with MSNBC host Ali Velshi, Steele said the attorneys now need to scramble to come up with an alternative argument to get away from state court.
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"The judge knew, and the judge was cautious about it," Steele said of the ruling. "He understands the political environment his court is operating under. He understands the political players in front of him as defendants, and so he wanted to be methodical. he wanted to be clear in his approach to this, so that yes, there will be some political backlash as there always is."
"But at least you can look at his effort to give Mark Meadows every deference, every opportunity to lay out and make the claim that he was acting as an official of the federal government of the United States when he was on those phone calls," he continued.
"It's very clear he was not so the judge did it right," he added.
"Mark Meadows, recognizing the peril he is in, was trying to get it to a more favorable venue for him getting it out of Washington D.C.. -- the judge would have none of it," he elaborated. "I think that to your point, Ali, is something that the other lawyers representing other defendants now, including Donald Trump, they're looking at it and going, 'Well we have to come up with a more creative argument because, because the legal one isn't working.'"
Watch below or at the link.
MSNBC 09 09 2023 10 44 46youtu.be
