Former top Trump aide Mark Meadows seeks pause of court order keeping criminal case in Fulton County court

Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asked a judge Monday to pause an order denying his attempt to remove his criminal case to federal court.

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones in Atlanta on Friday ruled that Meadows had "not met even the 'quite low' threshold" for the jurisdiction change. Meadows is among 19 people, including former President Donald Trump, who have entered not guilty pleas to charges they were involved in a "criminal enterprise" around their attempts to thwart the 2020 presidential election after Trump lost.

On Monday, Meadows asked in a court filing for Jones to issue a stay of the order. Meadows says he will seek an expedited appeal, but wants to prevent the case from moving too far along while the appeal goes forward.

"At a minimum, the court should stay the remand order to protect Meadows from a conviction pending appeal," an attorney for Meadows wrote. "Absent a stay, the state will continue seeking to try Meadows 42 days from now on October 23, 2023. If the State gets its way, Meadows could be forced to go to trial—and could be convicted and incarcerated— before the standard timeline for a federal appeal would play out."

In a brief order Monday, Jones gave Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis until noon on Tuesday to respond.

Friday's ruling was an early win for Willis, who spent 2 1/2 years investigating and building the case against Trump, Meadows and 17 others. They were charged Aug. 15 in a sweeping indictment under Georgia's anti-racketeering law. 

Meadows is portrayed in the indictment as a go-between for Trump and others involved in coordinating his team's strategy for contesting the election and "disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021."

Meadows has claimed in court filings that he was acting as his role as chief of staff to Trump, and, because he was a federal official at the time, the charges against him should be heard in federal court.

Trump has indicated that he is considering asking for his trial to be moved to federal court, and several other defendants have already made the request.

In:
• Donald Trump
• Mark Meadows

Graham Kates

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or [email protected]