During closing statements in the hearing over Mark Meadows’ bid to move his Georgia case to federal court, the former White House chief of staff’s lawyer said shooting someone would be outside the bounds of his role, but questioning the 2020 election results wasn’t.
The judge asked Meadows’ lawyer about the limits of his duties as a federal official — a question that is at the heart of today’s hearing.
Meadows’ lawyer, George Terwilliger, said the job responsibilities are broad because the role of chief of staff is so closely intertwined with the operations of the federal government.
“But if he shot a demonstrator in Lafayette Park, that would obviously be outside the scope of his duties,” Terwilliger said.
Meadows’ attorney urged the judge to move the case to federal court, arguing there was a low evidentiary burden. “The tie doesn’t go to the state,” Meadows’ attorney argued.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ team argued the Hatch Act, which bans federal officials from political activities in an official capacity, “places a hard outer boundary” for where a federal official’s job responsibilities end — once they start engaging in political activity, prosecutor Donald Wakeford said.
Prosecutors argued that as a result, Meadows’ actions in the indictment weren’t part of his job, so the case should stay in state court.
“He doesn’t think anything he does can be touched by the Hatch Act,” Willis’ team argued.
CNN’s Fabiana Chaparro, Macie Goldfarb, Morayo Ogunbayo, Jared Formanek and Shirin Faqiri contributed to this reporting.