Mark Meadows, who was indicted alongside Donald Trump and 17 others in Fulton County, Georgia over their efforts to subvert the 2020 election last year, is attempting to make his case go away — but it's not working for him so far.
According to Politico, the former Trump chief of staff is asking for the National Archives and Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith hand over "thousands of records from" from Meadows' Trump White House stint, claiming that the documents "will help disprove" the allegations that he participated in election interference.
"Mr. Meadows is entitled to these documents in preparation of his defense by law and as a matter of fundamental fairness and constitutional due process," Meadows' lawyer John Moran wrote in a letter to the special counsel and National Archivist Colleen Shogan.
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The ex-MAGA staffer's fight reached federal court this week, Politico reports, "amid resistance from the National Archives, which called Meadows demands 'unreasonably vague,' 'extensive in scope' and largely irrelevant to the racketeering charge he faces in Georgia."
Per the report, Meadows is requesting "virtually every email, text, schedule and written file he produced as White House chief of staff," "his communications with Joe Biden’s transition team after the November election," "Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence’s internal schedules from Election Day to Biden’s inauguration," and more.
Meadows' requests has contributed to the case's delay.
Per Politico, "The National Archives contended the broad swaths of records could not be reasonably connected to his criminal defense in Georgia since many of them significantly pre-date the alleged crime."
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Writing on behalf of National Archives, DOJ lawyer Cassandra Snyder said in a letter, "Your request for ‘any and all records’ and calls that Mr. Meadows and others in his office made or received, spanning a ten-month period, clearly is not pertinent nor relevant to the charged offense."
Politico's full report is available at this link.
