'Mark Meadows has a potential perjury problem': former special counsel
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, charged in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ racketeering prosecution of Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants for alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, may have some challenges surrounding possible perjury, according to several legal experts.
“Mark Meadows has a potential perjury problem,” writes professor of law Ryan Goodman, a former U.S. Dept. of Defense Special Counsel. Goodman is referring to court documents filed Thursday by Willis arguing against allowing Meadows to move his case to federal court and severing it from his co-defendants.
Professor of law and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance says, “Willis makes a compelling argument against permitting Meadows to remove his case to fed’l court simply because one or more overt acts involved his official position, pointing out he’s charged with a conspiracy to violate the RICO act & he must have a fed’l defense to that crime.”
Willis opens by writing: “The defendant’s prosecution was not commenced against him ‘for or related to any act’ under color of his office. The defendant’s prosecution commenced because he knowingly and willfully entered into an agreement to violate the Georgia RICO Act.”
As Lawfare’s Anna Bower points out, even in a footnote Willis makes a good case against allowing Meadows to move his case to federal court.
“In addition to the contradiction highlighted above, the defendant said repeatedly that he misused the pronoun ‘we,’ an assertion that would materially alter the plain meaning of several of his relevant statements. The defendant also repeatedly insisted he was merely ‘trying to land the plane’ and achieve ‘a peaceful transition of power,’ a statement clearly belied by his participation in the Trump campaign’s attempts to overturn the outcome of Georgia’s election.”
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
- Ex-Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ mugshot released as judge sets bond at $100,000 ›
- Mark Meadows has 'fatally sabotaged' his defense in Georgia indictment: legal experts ›
- Legal experts: Mark Meadows’ testimony may have unintentionally doomed Trump’s Georgia defense ›
