Judge rejects former Trump aide Mark Meadows’ bid to move Arizona election case to federal court

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has rejected former Donald Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows’ bid to move his charges in Arizona’s fake elector case to federal court, marking the second time he has failed in trying to get his charges moved out of state court.

In a decision Monday, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi said Meadows missed a deadline for asking for his charges to be moved to federal court and failed to show that the allegations against him related to his official duties as chief of staff to the president.

The former chief of staff, who faces charges in Arizona and Georgia in what state authorities alleged was an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Trump’s favor, had unsuccessfully tried to move state charges to federal court last year in an election subversion case in Georgia. While not a fake elector in Arizona, prosecutors said Meadows worked with other Trump campaign members to submit names of fake electors from Arizona and other states to Congress in a bid to keep Trump in office despite his November 2020 defeat. Meadows has pleaded not guilty to charges in Arizona and Georgia.

In 2020, President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.

Jacques Billeaud, The Associated Press