Last Thursday, Donald Trump’s legal team notified the Fulton County court that they will not seek to have his case transferred to federal court after the judge overseeing the case rejected every other similar request, ABC News reported.
Several defendants in the election interference case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis petitioned to have their cases removed to federal court arguing that the actions they took were in their capacity as federal officials. However, Judge Steve Jones has rejected each of the requests.
Last week, Judge Jones rejected the petitions from former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as well as the requests from three of the fraudulent state electors, arguing that the defendants did not meet the requirements to have their cases removed to federal court.
The three fraudulent electors also claimed to qualify for removal to federal court since they acted under the direction of a federal officer. However, Judge Jones dismissed the argument, saying that since Donald Trump’s “private litigation” was “unofficial conduct,” the directions the fraudulent electors received from Trump’s attorneys “are not related to any federal officer duties of the President.”
Jeffrey Clark, who drafted a letter to Georgia officials claiming there was enough evidence of voter fraud in the state to alter the outcome of the election, also sought to have his case removed to federal court, claiming that his actions were done in his capacity as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.
But in his ruling last Friday, Judge Jones said there was no evidence that Clark’s actions were “within the scope” of his role with the DOJ.
In early September, Judge Jones similarly rejected former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ request to move his case to federal court, saying in his ruling that Meadows’ actions were made on behalf of the Trump campaign and not in his capacity as chief of staff.
Meadows has appealed the ruling.
