Trump ‘May’ Seek to Move Election-Racketeering Case in Georgia to Federal Court

Former President Donald Trump notified a Georgia judge on Thursday that he "may" seek to transfer his election-racketeering case to federal court.

Trump attorney Steven Sadow submitted an initial notice of Trump’s possible intent to seek the transfer of his case in a Thursday filing in Fulton County Superior Court.

If Trump moves forward with the effort, he would be the sixth defendant out of the 19 co-defendants in the Fulton County case to seek removal to federal court. 

Last month, Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows testified in federal court in support of his motion. Prosecutors called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump told in an infamous phone fall to “find 11,780 votes,” to help make their case that Meadows did not take his actions over the course of his official duties. Meadows arranged Trump’s call with Raffensperger, an elected Republican.

In addition to Meadows, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and three alleged fake electors--Cathy Latham, David Shafer and Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still--have also sought to remove their cases to federal court. 

Only Meadows’ case has already headed to an evidentiary hearing, and he is awaiting a decision. The other defendants’ cases remain pending. Hearings on removal efforts by Clark, Latham, Shafer and Still are scheduled to be heard later this month.

The former president, his inner circle, and other Trump allies face a sprawling 97-page indictment accusing them of a wide-ranging conspiracy to overturn the election. The charges stem from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ 2 ½-year probe into alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. 

Trump is charged with 13 state felony counts in the case, and has entered a not-guilty plea.

Legal experts have said that if Meadows’ removal is successful then Trump would likely follow suit.

Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University, said the notice is “puzzling,” because nothing requires a defendant to inform the court that they “may” ask for removal.

“If I were the judge, I would interpret this document as Mr. Sadow’s way of telling me that his client is going to wait until the very last minute to decide whether to file a removal,” he said. “In other words, something like September 30.”

Sadow's strategy might be to “gum everything up” for the month of October, likely pushing any trial involving Trump past the end of the calendar year, he said.

If Meadows does win his removal, Cunningham said, it raises a question for U.S. District Judge Steven Jones, who is presiding over Meadows’s removal effort, as to whether to remove all the cases to federal court.

"If Judge Jones agrees to remove Meadows and also before the end of September agrees everybody is removed, then Trump doesn't have to litigate the issue, which would be a reason for him to wait until the last minute," Cunningham said. "Because he doesn't want to testify. But he almost certainly would have to in his own removal case.”

Attorney Bradley Moss, a prominent national security lawyer, suspected that Trump adopted a wait-and-see posture to learn the outcome of the existing federal court battle.

"Likely waiting to see what happens with Meadows first," Moss said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Trump’s effort to transfer the case to federal court could have significant legal and political implications. Removal to federal courts would potentially affect the jury selection process and the rules of criminal procedure as the case moves forward. 

Removal to the federal court system would also drastically lessen the likelihood that the trial would be televised. While the federal judiciary has a longstanding ban on live broadcasting of court proceedings, Georgia’s rules for cameras in courtrooms are among the most permissive in the nation.

The short notice filed by Trump's attorney on Thursday cites a law – Section 1442 of the portion of the U.S. Code governing the federal judicial system – that says civil or criminal cases brought in state court against federal officers “for or relating to any act under color of such office” can be removed to federal court.

Legal experts have said there are many unanswered questions about how that statute applies to the charges against of Trump and other defendants in the Georgia case.

Section 1442 was a central part of legal arguments at Meadows' removal hearing last week, which resulted in a federal judge requesting additional briefings.

“There is little precedent here,” Michigan State University College of Law professor Brian Kalt told The Messenger last month. “This statute has been used before, to be sure, but removal is much, much more common on the civil side than on the criminal side.”