Trump aide Mark Meadows seeks to block Georgia election probe

Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asked a South Carolina judge to block a subpoena demanding his testimony before a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in the 2020 presidential election.

Meadows’ request Monday afternoon came hours after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas temporarily delayed a similar subpoena that the same grand jury issued to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The grand jury is probing former President Donald Trump and others for possible crimes related to efforts to get Georgia election officials to effectively reverse President Joe Biden‘s victory in the state’s 2020 presidential race.

Meadows was on the phone during a January 2021 call when Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” Trump enough votes to win the state.

A spokesman for the Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney’s office, which is overseeing evidence presented to the grand jury, said that a prosecutor from that office will address Meadows’ effort during a hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Pickens County court in South Carolina.

Meadows, a former Republican congressman, resides in South Carolina. Georgia authorities had to file a petition in South Carolina’s Court of Common Pleas seeking to compel him to go to Atlanta to comply with the subpoena.

In a filing Monday in the court’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Meadows’ lawyer James Bannister opposed that petition for several reasons.

Bannister said the subpoena was moot because it had required Meadows’ appearance before the grand jury on Sept. 27.

However, a Fulton County prosecutor said a “scheduling conflict” delayed Meadows’ testimony date, according to an affidavit filed Tuesday. Prosecutors suggested rescheduling the appearance until Nov. 9, 15 or 30.

Bannister also wrote that South Carolina’s law related to securing the attendance of witnesses for another state in a criminal proceeding “does not apply to a subpoena” such as the one issued for Meadows under a Georgia civil statute.

The grand jury in this case does not have the power to criminally charge individuals but can recommend charges.

Bannister also wrote that Meadows is not a “material witness” under South Carolina law because in a pending federal court case, he asserted the claim of executive privilege in arguing he should not be compelled to testify to the select House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by Trump supporters.