(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows is fighting a subpoena from the Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Meadows’ lawyer argued in a filing Monday that Meadows cannot be compelled to testify because, although the grand jury is investigating alleged criminal conduct, it does not have the ability to return a criminal indictment and can only make recommendations concerning criminal prosecution.
Meadows was subpoenaed in August to appear for testimony on Sept. 27. Meadows says that the matter is now “moot” given that the deadline has now passed.
The Fulton County DA’s office said in a filing dated Oct. 7 and filed on Monday that Meadows had a “scheduling conflict” that prevented him from appearing for testimony on Sept. 27. The DA’s office has proposed that Meadows appear on either Nov. 9, Nov. 16, Nov. 23 or Nov 30.
Meadows was on the January 2021 phone call that then-President Donald Trump had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” him enough votes to win the state.
“So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state,” Trump said on the call.
Trump, who has denounced the Fulton County probe, has repeatedly defended his phone call to Raffensperger, calling it “perfect.”
Meadows is one of several Trump allies that the special grand jury has subpoenaed in recent months.
He was also subpoenaed in September 2021 by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. After briefly cooperating and selectively turning over more than 9,000 records and emails related to his activities surrounding the events of Jan. 6, Meadows stopped cooperating with that probe.
In December 2021, the committee voted to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress for not appearing before the panel, and a criminal referral was sent to the Department of Justice. However the DOJ ultimately declined to prosecute Meadows.
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