Former Trump chief of staff fails in attempt to bring Arizona election rigging case to federal court

Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff, failed to convince a judge to transfer his criminal case related to the 2020 election in Arizona to federal court, which would have made it easier to dismiss the charges.

Meadows also failed in his attempt to bring the criminal case against him in Georgia related to the 2020 election to federal court, but asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Meadows and 17 other Trump associates, including the state’s fake electors and several people with ties to his campaign, were indicted earlier this year for their efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat. Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

U.S. District Judge John Tuchi ruled that Meadows launched its bid too late and disagreed with Meadows’ arguments as to why the “premature” bid should be allowed.

But Tuchi, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, also wrote in the 15-page ruling that Meadows failed to show how the conduct at issue in his criminal case related to his official duties as Trump’s last chief of staff, an argument Meadows has repeatedly made to avoid criminal prosecution.

“The conduct charged against the state has nothing to do with Mr. Meadows’ official duties,” the judge wrote Monday. “Although the court gives credence to Mr. Meadows’ theory that the chief of staff serves as the president’s gatekeeper, that conclusion does not establish a causal link between Mr. Meadows’ official authority and the conduct charged.”

According to a source close to Meadows’ legal team, Meadows plans to appeal the judge’s ruling.

CNN has contacted Meadows’ attorney in Arizona for comment.

Tuchi continued to criticize Meadows for what he described as the former chief of staff’s attempt to rewrite the state’s charges against him.

“Contrary to Mr. Meadows’ claims, the State has not charged Mr. Meadows with merely facilitating communications to and from the President or simply keeping abreast of campaign operations,” he wrote. “Instead, the State has charged Mr. Meadows with allegedly orchestrating and participating in an illegal campaign scheme. Few, if any, of the State’s actual allegations even remotely resemble the secretarial duties that Mr. Meadows claims are the subject of the charges.”

He continued: “None of the factual allegations at issue here mention managing the President’s time or facilitating communications with and to the President, much less that such time management or communications facilitation constitutes the charged conduct in this case. Likewise, contrary to his reformulation of the indictment, Mr. Meadows is not charged with receiving text messages that were intended merely to keep him ‘updated on what was happening’ with the Trump campaign.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

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