Appeals court slaps down Mark Meadows’ bid to transfer Georgia election case

A three-judge panel on Monday spurned Mark Meadows’ attempt to transfer his Fulton County, Georgia election subversion case to a federal court.

The former White House chief of staff’s legal team contended that because the charges stem from his duties in the Trump administration, a federal court should adjudicate the charges against him.

“Meadows cannot have it both ways. He cannot shelter behind his testimony about the breadth of his official responsibilities, while disclaiming his admissions that he understood electioneering activity to be out of bounds,” Chief Judge William Pryor wrote in a brutal opinion.

“That he repeatedly denied having any role in, or speaking on behalf of, the Trump campaign, reflects his recognition that such activities were forbidden to him as chief of staff,” he added.

Meadows can appeal the decision.

Pryor was appointed to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals by former President George W. Bush.

“We cannot rubberstamp Meadows’ legal opinion that the president’s chief of staff has unfettered authority,” Pryor added.

Meadows’ team seemingly believed the federal court system would be a more favorable terrain to bat down the two felony counts lodged against him.

If the appeals panel allowed him to transfer the case, his legal team likely would have sought to get the charges tossed by making a federal immunity claim that he was merely carrying out his governmental duties.

Also underlying the effort is the fact that presidential pardons cannot extend to state convictions, meaning if President Donald Trump wins back the White House in 2024, he can’t nullify the Fulton County charges.

The appeals panel handed down a 3-0 ruling against Meadows’ push to transfer. Pryor was joined by Circuit Judges Robin Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee, and Nancy Abudu, a Biden appointee.

“At bottom, whatever the chief of staff’s role with respect to state election administration, that role does not include altering valid election results in favor of a particular candidate,” Pryor added.

He also determined that the federal removal statute Meadows’ team cited, “does not apply to former federal officers, and even if it did, the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows’s official duties.”

Meadows is one of at least five defendants who have sought to move the case to the federal courts. He is also one of 19 who were charged in the Fulton County racketeering case. Five have since pleaded guilty.

Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

If the panel greenlit Meadows’ request, it could have kneecapped Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis’ case against a number of his co-defendants, including former President Donald Trump.

In a separate development Monday, Trump’s legal team filed a challenge to toss out the 13-count Fulton County indictment under the argument that it impinged upon his First Amendment rights.

Meadows has been cooperating with special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the Justice Department’s Capitol riot and 2020 election case against Trump.

There were rumors that Meadows was granted immunity to testify under oath, but the former chief of staff’s lawyer has cast aspersions on that report, saying it “was largely inaccurate.”

The Post contacted Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger III for comment.