UPDATED: 25 OCT 2022 01:01 PM EST
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is resisting a subpoena from Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating efforts by Donald Trump to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia, according to newly filed court records.
Meadows is urging a judge in Pickens County, S.C., where he now resides, to reject an effort by Fulton County, Georgia, to subpoena him for testimony in November.
Meadows is a crucial witness for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is probing Trump’s effort to pressure state officials to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Willis’ probe includes an expansive inquiry into Trump’s wide-ranging effort to subvert the election, as well as issues specific to Georgia.
The latter includes a January 2021 phone call in which Trump pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for him to prevail in the state. Meadows was on the line for that phone call, and he also traveled to Georgia in December 2020 to monitor an audit of the state’s election results — a trip that has also drawn scrutiny from the Jan. 6 select committee.
Willis has also sought to compel testimony from high-level figures in Trump’s orbit, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Boris Epshteyn and John Eastman, as well as others who aided Trump’s effort to cling to power despite losing reelection. When she seeks testimony from witnesses who reside outside of Georgia, she must get the approval from judges in those other states under laws that generally require cooperation among state- and county-level courts in criminal proceedings.
But Meadows contends that Willis’ probe – being conducted via a “special grand jury” — doesn’t qualify as a criminal investigation, which prevents her from compelling him to appear. His attorney James Bannister urged the South Carolina court to deny Fulton County’s effort to enforce Meadows’ appearance.
Willis issued a subpoena for Meadows to appear in August and scheduled a deposition for Sept. 27. But in a Tuesday filing to the Pickens County court, Willis deputy John Wooten said a “scheduling conflict” had delayed any action on Meadows’ testimony. Wooten proposed rescheduling the delayed appearance to Nov. 9, Nov. 16 or Nov. 30.
Willis has largely paused high-profile steps in her investigation amid early voting and the end of election season in Georgia, given the significant political implications of the probe. The Fulton County Superior Court judge overseeing the case has similarly agreed that he would not issue any findings from Willis until after the election. He also delayed a deposition by Gov. Brian Kemp, who is up for reelection, until after voting ends.
Meadows contends that the belated effort to secure his testimony is now “moot” as a result of the missed Sept. 27 deadline. He also pointed to ongoing litigation against the Jan. 6 select committee in which he contends he is “immune” from testifying to Congress because of his high-level role in Trump’s White House — and therefore can’t be forced to risk breaching executive privilege. That matter is pending before U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, who is slated to rule imminently.
It’s not immediately clear if Meadows is attempting to assert “immunity” from testimony to the Fulton County grand jury as he did before the Jan. 6 select committee, or if he intends to argue that Trump has renewed his assertion executive privilege over Meadows’ potential testimony to the Atlanta-area probe. Typically, investigators demand that witnesses appear to assert privileges on a question-by-question basis.
