'Material and necessary': Mark Meadows ordered to testify before Georgia grand jury in 2020 election case

26 October 2022

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows must appear to testify before a Fulton County, Ga., grand jury in connection with the election interference investigation, a South Carolina judge has ruled.

At the end of a hearing held on Wednesday, October 26, Judge Edward Miller, of the Pickens County, S.C., Court of Common Pleas, ruled that an appearance from Meadows is necessary.

“I am going to find that the witness is material and necessary to the investigation and that the state of Georgia is assuring not to cause undue hardship to him,” Miller said.

According to CNN, the matter was brought before Miller after Atlanta prosecutors sought an order for Meadows, now a South Carolina resident, to comply with their subpoena.

The judge also expressed apprehension about Meadows' refusal to comply. The report also includes Miller's remarks to Meadows' attorney James Bannister.

"Meadows’ arguments for why he should not have to comply with a subpoena were met with skepticism from the South Carolina judge, who questioned the relevancy of some of the evidence Meadows’ attorney tried to put forward in the hearing, which lasted less than an hour," CNN reports. "Miller also jumped in when a question by Bannister posed to a prosecutor involved in the Atlanta probe suggested a partisan motivation of the investigation."

“This is not a political hearing,” the judge told Bannister. Per the news outlet, the judge also noted "that some of the legal arguments Meadows was raising were claims that could be considered by other courts, but were not relevant to the decision before him."

Meadows' testimony is part of the investigation being led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The investigation stems from former President Donald Trump's infamous call to Georgia Secretary Brad Raffensperger when he pressed him to "find" more than 11,000 votes to overturn the election result in Georgia.

While Meadows' attorney has made it clear that he does plan to appeal the ruling, the Fulton County district attorney’s office has also noted that there are several dates they have to meet with the former Trump administration official.

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