UPDATED: 29 NOV 2022 04:40 PM EST
South Carolina’s Supreme Court has unanimously ordered former White House Chief of staff Mark Meadows to testify to an Atlanta-area grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the election in Georgia.
“We have reviewed the arguments raised by [Meadows] and find them to be manifestly without merit,” South Carolina’s Supreme Court justices wrote in a brief opinion.
The decision affirmed a lower court’s ruling requiring Meadows to testify to the Fulton County grand jury investigation led by District Attorney Fani Willis. Meadows was initially scheduled to appear for testimony on Nov. 30, and it’s unclear if that appearance is still on track.
Attorneys for Meadows and a spokeswoman for Willis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The five-member court’s decision was just three paragraphs long. It cited the "exigent circumstances involved" but did not go into detail about the dispute.
Willis sought Meadows’ testimony in September as part of her expansive investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to disrupt the election process in Georgia, including his push for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
The fight over the Meadows’ subpoena wound up before the South Carolina courts under procedures many states have agreed on to enforce court orders for testimony issued by courts in another state. To compel testimony from out-of-state residents, Willis must first get the approval of local courts. Meadows is a resident of South Carolina.
Courts in New York and Florida have similarly upheld efforts by Willis to obtain testimony from non-Georgia residents, including Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
Willis’ grand jury has sought testimony from a slew of high-ranking figures in Trump’s orbit, particularly those most closely associated with his bid to subvert the results of the 2020 election. Among the witnesses she’s pursued: attorneys John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Boris Epshteyn and Kenneth Chesebro. She also recently obtained testimony from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who appeared after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Willis to question him.
Willis has also probed Trump’s allies in Georgia who signed documents claiming to be the state’s legitimate presidential electors as part of a broader plan by the Trump campaign to disrupt the transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021.
But Meadows is the most critical figure in her investigation to be ordered to appear. In addition to his prominent role in Trump’s orbit during the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, Meadows traveled to Georgia in the midst of the state’s post-election audit and joined Trump on his Jan. 2, 2021 phone call with Raffensperger.
Meadows had argued to a South Carolina county court that his appearance before the grand jury was barred by executive privilege, but the state courts rejected that argument.
