While the world is glued to the ongoing court battles Donald Trump faces, his former chief of staff is in his own legal clash with the National Archives and Justice Department.
Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney reported that Mark Meadows is at work trying to access documents from his time in the White House that he says will prove his innocence in the Georgia racketeering case.
Meadows was charged along with 18 others for an alleged conspiracy to change the 2020 election result to ensure Trump won the state of Georgia.
Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.
Read Also: Inside the Trump Crime Syndicate and MAGA kitchen cabinet of knaves and rogues
Presiding Judge Scott McAfee is working with Meadows on the effort, asking special counsel Jack Smith if he would turn over the troves of phone records, emails and text messages that show the pathway of activity for Meadows at that time.
In a letter to National Archivist Colleen Shogan, Meadows' lawyer said that his client is "entitled to these documents in preparation of his defense by law and as a matter of fundamental fairness and constitutional due process."
This week, however, representatives of the National Archives claimed in court that Meadows' request for documents and information is “unreasonably vague,” “extensive in scope” and irrelevant to the Georgia case.
The Archives' response reveals that one of Meadows' requests is to obtain, “Any and all official records . . . created or received by Mark R. Meadows” from March 31, 2020, to January 20, 2021.
Another demand is “Any and all official records from the Executive Office of the President . . . relating to the transition of presidential administrations."
"Similarly, it cannot be true that all official records from an unlimited number of custodians within the Executive Office of the President relating to the presidential transition (which you estimate will include 'many documents covering a multitude of subjects,' id. ¶ 2) are relevant to Mr. Meadows’ defense of a single count of conspiring to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election," the Archives said in the response to Meadows' demand.
"The same is true of your request for 'all emails and text messages' from seven particular officials within the Executive Office of the President, see id. ¶ 6, and your requests for 'all emails and text messages” between the Office of the Chief of Staff and various other agencies, id. ¶¶ 11–12," the response continued.
"Moreover, these requests comprise thousands of documents. Indeed, your request for emails and text messages from Anthony Ornato alone constitutes over 1,000 emails. Your request is also unreasonably vague and extensive in scope to the extent you seek records of some unlimited number of unnamed individuals from the Office of the Chief of Staff or the Executive Office of the President," the archivist said.
Meadows also used his filing to attack Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis for not requesting the documents in her investigation.
