A federal appeals court has denied Mark Meadows' effort to move his Georgia prosecution into federal court.
The full bench of the 11th District Court of Appeals in Atlanta denied his request to reconsider a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel to remove the criminal case from state court to federal court, although none of the judges requested a poll in this ruling.
The judges also determined his petition for rehearing en banc, or by the full panel, should be considered the same as a request for the three-judge panel to reconsider, so it was also denied.
Meadows could appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, which could delay the start of his Georgia election interference trial if the justices decide to take up the case.
Donald Trump's former White House chief of staff has reportedly reached an immunity agreement with special counsel Jack Smith and has spoken to prosecutors at least three times, including once before a federal grand jury, and has testified that he repeatedly told the former president his 2020 election fraud claims were baseless.
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Meadows also told federal investigators that Trump was being "dishonest" when he spread those claims to the public ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection, yet the chief of staff still set up a now-infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between the former president and Georgia secretary Brad Raffensperger to discuss those fraud claims.
Trump, Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and 16 other campaign attorneys, local GOP officials and others have been charged with racketeering in the Georgia case.
Lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, along with bail bondsman Scott Hall, have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, which could mean all three 2020 campaign attorneys could testify against the former president at trial — and even if they can't directly implicate him in a crime, they could help Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis flip other co-defendants.
Georgia prosecutors have so far not appeared to be willing to extend a plea deal to Meadows, who has not been charged in the separate federal election subversion case.
