Thread by @AnnaBower

Tomorrow, a federal judge in Atlanta is set to hold a hearing on whether Mark Meadows can move his state criminal charges in Fulton County to federal court.

I will once again arrive at a courthouse at an ungodly hour to cover the hearing for @lawfare.

A 🧵on what to expect:

Shortly after he was indicted alongside 18 others on racketeering and other charges in Fulton County, Meadows sought to move his case to federal court.

Four other defendants in Fulton County—Jeffrey Clark, Shawn Still, David Shafer, and Cathy Latham—have sought to do the same.

The statute that authorizes this type of removal request, 28 USC 1442, requires these defendants to show 3 things in order to move their cases to federal court, as @lee_kovarsky recently explained in @lawfare:

lawfaremedia.org/article/remova…

So, basically, these defendants need to show that their alleged conduct relates to acts taken under color of federal office & that they can raise a federal defense.

Other defendants have hearings set for later dates, but tomorrow’s hearing only deals with Meadows.

The hearing is an “evidentiary” hearing, meaning that witnesses can be called to testify.

And it’s shaping up to be a mini-trial.

Fani Willis has subpoenaed four witnesses to appear in court tomorrow morning: Alex Kaufman, Kurt Hilbert, Frances Watson, and Brad Raffensperger.

Raffensperger is GA’s Secretary of State, who Trump infamously called on Jan. 2, 2021 to urge Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn the election.

Meadows allegedly participated in the call.

Two other witnesses subpoenaed by Willis—Kaufman and Hilbert—were on the call.

The fourth witness subpoenaed by Willis, Frances Watson, was the chief investigator for the Secretary of State’s office following the 2020 election.

Here’s our @lawfare summary of what the indictment alleged wrt Meadows’s interactions with Watson:

. lawfaremedia.org/article/the-fu…

It’s unclear if all of these witnesses will end up testifying tomorrow, but it’s apparent that the Raffensperger call and team Trump’s communications with Watson will take center stage at the hearing.

It will be our most detailed look yet at Willis’s case against Meadows.

It’s also unclear what evidence or testimony, if any, Meadows plans to put forward as he attempts to show that his conduct was related to his official duties as chief of staff.

While it’s highly unlikely that Meadows will testify..it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

The outcome of this hearing could be consequential.

The jury pool in federal court is wider: it’s drawn not only from Fulton County, but from 9 other counties in the Atlanta area.

And public/media access to the trial would likely be more limited in federal court.

And federal court rules around media coverage will apply during the hearing tomorrow.

All of which means no live coverage of the hearing.

But I’ll be there for @lawfare.

And, in classic @lawfare fashion, we’ll have a neurotically detailed dispatch out sometime tomorrow.