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Federal judge to hear arguments today on Mark Meadows’ motion to have his Ga. election case moved

ATLANTA — A high-profile hearing in the Georgia election interference case is set for federal court on Monday.

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was one of the 19 people indicted by a Fulton County Grand Jury accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election here in Georgia. Former President Donald Trump also was charged.

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Meadows faces two charges of violation of the Georgia RICO Act and solicitation of violation of oath by public officer. Meadows surrendered to the Fulton County Jail on Thursday and was released on a $100,000 bond.

Meadows and his attorneys filed a motion to have his case move from state court to federal court arguing that the charges “all occurred during his tenure and as part of his service as Chief of Staff” and therefore should be dismissed.

Fani Willis and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office argue that Meadows violated the Hatch Act and that the case should stay on the state level. Willis issued subpoenas for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and investigator Francis Watson to appear at the hearing.

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Meadows participated in the now-infamous phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, in which the former president pressured Raffensperger to overturn the election results and find him 11,000 votes.

A week earlier, Meadows allegedly arranged another phone call between Trump and Watson, whose team was overseeing a signature match audit in Cobb County. During the signature match audit process in Dec. 2020, Meadows showed up unannounced, stayed for roughly 20 minutes, and left without speaking to the media.

A federal judge scheduled a hearing for Monday at 10 a.m. in Atlanta to hear both arguments in the Meadows motion.

Meadows isn’t the only defendant named in the indictment who has filed to have his case moved to federal court. Former U.S. Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark, Georgia State Sen. Shawn Still, former Georgia GOP chairman David Shafer and former Coffee County GOP leader Cathy Latham also filed.

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