Former Trump DOJ Lawyer Jeffrey Clark Loses Bid to Move Georgia Case to Federal Court

ATLANTA — Former Trump Department of Justice Official Jeffrey Clark will stand trial in Georgia state court rather than federal court, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled Friday. 

Clark was charged alongside Donald Trump and seventeen others in a 41-count Fulton County grand jury indictment alleging an election racketeering enterprise. Clark was the second defendant in the case, after former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, to try and remove his case from state court. Meadows was also unsuccessful in his bid to be tried in federal court and has appealed his denial to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. 

“The Court makes clear this Order determines only that, as a federal court with limited jurisdiction, it lacks any basis for jurisdiction over Clark's criminal prosecution,” the order reads, adding that the ruling “suggests no opinion” and “makes no ruling on “the merits of the charges against Clark.”

“This Order's sole determination is that there is no federal jurisdiction over the criminal case,” Jones’ order states. 

The Georgia indictment accuses Clark of helping pursue a plan that would keep Trump in the White House for another term based on election fraud grounds that Clark falsely claimed his department had observed. It notes that Clark composed a draft letter that tried to urge Georgia state officials to convene a special session of the state legislature to investigate supposed election “irregularities.”

Clark is charged with two state felony counts in the case and has entered a not guilty plea.

Clark’s attorneys argued for his removal on Monday, Sep. 18 and legal experts largely predicted Clark’s bid would not succeed. Unlike Meadows, Clark did not testify at his own hearing, and the hearing got off to a rocky start when Jones chastised Clark’s attorney Harry MacDougald because he had neglected to file a written waiver of Clark’s appearance. 

Georgia State University law professor Caren Morrison, who attended Clark’s removal hearing, described it as “a waste of time” and said if Clark had testified “it would have been a different kind of bloodbath.”  

Also seeking to have their cases removed are co-defendants David Shafer, Shawn Still and Cathy Latham, all of whom were charged in connection to the “fake” electors scheme. Their hearing occurred on Sep. 20, legal experts largely agreed their arguments for removal were the weakest.

Trump defense attorney in the Georgia RICO case, Steve Sadow, attended all the removal hearings in U.S. district court, at times seemingly displeased by the performance of his client’s codefendants. 

In a filing Thursday, Sadow indicated Trump would not seek removal to federal court, expressing confidence in a fair trial before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.

Jones is an appointee of former President Barack Obama. McAfee was appointed by Republican governor Brian Kemp.