Former President Donald Trump may seek to move the Georgia election interference case against him to federal court and out of Fulton County, his lawyer said in a filing.
“President Trump hereby notifies the Court that he may seek removal of his prosecution to federal court under 28 U.S.C. [Sections] 1442 & 1445,” Steven Sadow, lead counsel for President Trump in the Georgia case, wrote in a Sept. 7 filing. “His written waiver of arraignment was filed on August 31, 2013. To be timely, his notice of removal must be filed within 30 days of his arraignment.”
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought the case against President Trump and 18 co-defendants, alleging that their challenge of the 2020 presidential election results constituted a “criminal racketeering enterprise.”
If a notice of removal is filed, an evidentiary hearing will held in federal court, where U.S. District Judge Steve Jones will decide how much of the case may be remanded back to state court. The judge can also dismiss a removal entirely, sending the case back to state court without a hearing.
4 Notices
Four co-defendants have already requested the removal of their cases: Mark Meadows, former chief of staff to President Trump; Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department (DOJ) official under the Trump administration; and David Shafer and Shawn Still, both alternate electors who argue that their roles, legitimized by Congress, can be considered federal offices and that, at a minimum, they were acting at the direction of federal officers.
The U.S. Constitution states that federal law precedes state law and courts, and in court rulings, that’s been taken to mean that federal officers aren’t subject to state law before acting and can’t be tried in state court.
There may be several reasons for removing the case, including having the case dismissed entirely, as some of the defendants’ lawyers have argued.
