Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Co-Conspirator LOSES APPEAL in BAD SIGN for Trump

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Trump’s co conspirator in the Georgia election interference case and former chief of staff Mark Meadows just lost another appeal to avoid his criminal trial in Georgia state court. Michael Popok breaks down why the full 11th Circuit’s adoption of the Chief Judge’s ruling that no former federal officer can take his criminal case out of state court will prevent Trump from trying to get his case out of Georgia state court too. Get 10% off plus free shipping of your estate plan documents by visiting https://trustandwill.com/LEGALAF Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Popak, legal AF, Mark Meadows, former chief of staff for Donald Trump, likes to lose. And now he's lost again in his efforts to try to have the entirety of all 12 plus judges of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling by the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, William Pryor, a very rock-ribbed conservative Republican who ruled against Mark Meadows, along with two other members of the panel back in December. Mark Meadows didn't like that. He wanted, I guess, to lose in front of the entire 11th Circuit, hoping that somebody was going to find that the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, a Republican, Bill Pryor, had made a mistake. Well, nobody did. Nobody on the 11th circuit wanted to take up this issue

at all and now it stays where it is with a loss for Mark Meadows and an inability to take his case over to federal court unless and until the Supreme Court rules otherwise. Now this was a scathing decision by the original panel, what we call the original panel, what we call the merits panel led by Chief Judge Bill Pryor. He did not mince words and he actually made what we think is new law that now the entirety

of the 11 circuit supports, which is that you can't use federal officer removal statute, that statute, if you are a former federal officer, well, there's no dispute that Mark Meadows isn't currently the chief of staff for anybody. At best, he was the chief of staff for Donald Trump up to and including Jan 6th and slightly beyond. So the new law, the 11th Circuit made,

and we sort of described that illegally off as a bombshell, because in all the years that the 1442A federal officer removal provision had been in place, no court had ever ruled that it didn't apply to former former officers. Now we knew something was up because after the briefing, by Thawney Willis's office and by Mark Meadows lawyer, who's a pretty good lawyer,

the 11th Circuit panel came back with, we want you to brief a new issue. Why does 1442A apply to a former executive, member of the executive branch at all? Why? And so the entire order that came out of 42-page decision that came out in December, that was the basis for this new attempt at a full appeal, ruled at the very beginning, the very top of the case, they found that as a matter of law, there is no right to seek removal if you're no longer in office. If you were currently the chief of staff, maybe.

You could take the case from a state prosecutor, or sorry, from a state court into a federal court, but not if you're a former, new law, new law that they're the only circuit that have're a former. New law. New law that they're the only circuit that have ruled on it. It is now the law of the land unless and until another circuit rules differently or the United States Supreme Court takes up the matter, but we're very far away from that. And in that opinion, which we went over in detail in back in December, Judge Pryor recited all of the bad conduct in the indictment

that they ultimately found Mark Meadows was outside the scope of his proper functions as a chief of staff. They found instead it was electioneering and it was campaigning and it was a participation in a conspiracy to overturn the election results which are clearly not part of the job description, not part of the scope of responsibilities for anybody in the White House, let alone the Chief of Staff. And so they took special delight, I thought, in a very unsparing order by Judge Pryor, the Chief Judge again of

that court, to outline all of the things in the indictment that are outside of the scope of any chief of staff's duties. The call to Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state to try to find, you know, 11,750 votes or whatever it is, the attempt to enter the room and stop the counting when Mark Middow visited Coffey County, the attempt to interfere with the forensic audit of the count down in Georgia. His efforts to make phone calls to election officials and elected officials. This was all campaigner in chief stuff, not working for the president as commander in chief stuff.

And that is what William Pryor in his order said. In fact, when he gets to the part about, as I said, the first part of the order is the new decision that this does not apply to the former federal officers, again, new law. And so when they went to the heart of the indictment and they went through all of their actions, they could only conclude that he was not working under the color of law or color of his office

when he performed these duties. You probably know by now my family means everything to me. The things we build our future around are the things worth protecting, and making an estate plan now means gaining security of your assets and peace of mind for you and your loved ones. With trust and will, you can create and manage a custom estate plan starting for just $199. From my own professional experience, estate planning through other means can be a grueling process

and often costing thousands of dollars. But Trust and Will makes it super simple and streamlines the entire process from A to Z. Trust and Will's website is incredibly easy to navigate and the process is very straightforward. And one of the best parts is that after working with Trust and Will, you'll have the peace of mind

that your assets and wishes are secure. Trust and Will, you'll have the peace of mind that your assets and wishes are secure. Trust and Will has simplified the process of creating and managing your will or Trust Online from finding out what's right for your family to finalizing documents with a notary. Ensure your family and loved ones avoid lengthy, expensive legal proceedings or the state deciding what happens to your assets.

Live customer support is available through phone, chat, and email. Trust and Will is used by hundreds of thousands of families and counting. Secure your assets and protect your loved ones today with Trust and Will. Get 10% off plus free shipping of your estate plan documents

by visiting trustandwill.com slash legal AF. That's 10% off and free shipping at trustandwill.com slash legal AF. That's 10% off and free shipping at trustandwill.com slash legal AF. Now, as I said at the top of the hot take, Mark Meadows does not like that. Doesn't like the fact that the order recited verbatim all the places where he stepped outside his role as chief of staff.

Now remember, or I'll tell you straight here, that when he testified Meadows in his own hearing, he did himself no favors and covered himself with no glory. He couldn't really remember his responsibilities. He had difficulty distinguishing. He's basically saying, I'm always on 24 seven, whatever the president wants, I do. And the court said, yeah, but there's certain things

the president wants you to do that are outside your duties as a chief of staff and have now verged into being crimes. And so what Mark Meadows not content with that and for whatever reason not wanting in the last two months to take a direct appeal or attempted appeal at the United States Supreme Court, instead went back and asked for an on-bond ruling. On-bond means instead of having the three judge randomly assigned merits panel to decide an appeal, which is what happens generally in federal courts,

you asked to have the entirety of the panel rule on it. Now, considering that Chief Judge Pryor made new law to find that you can't use this kind of federal officer removal for a former employee or a former officer, I would have thought there would at least be a majority to vote for and to take up the case on Bonk and make a decision all 12 or so. But there wasn't any,

mainly because Bill Pryor is a very well-respected judge. There's probably no more respected judge on the 11th Circuit and the chief judge at this moment. And there's no way they were gonna counterman him or veto him. And they thought his analysis and legal underpinnings behind it were right. And so the hit today against Mark Meadows is not one, not one of

the remaining members of the panel, which is like another nine people, because you had the three that were on the merits panel that voted three zero against Meadows. Of course, they weren't going to vote to reconsider or haven't heard, reheard on bunk. And then he had to get a majority of, vast majority of the other nine. He was never going to get that. You know, he was never going to get enough of that nine. He would have to get seven out of the nine in order to have on bunk. And that math was never going to happen for Mark Meadows. So what does it mean? It means as of right now, the only case and the only precedent, because it's the only decision by a pellet court in the federal system, is that former federal officers

can't use 1442A to remove if they're no longer members of that branch or that members of that office. That is the law of the land, as I said, unless there's a competing or conflicting decision by another circuit, which hasn't happened yet, and or there's a reversal by the United States Supreme Court, but we don't even have an appeal at the United States Supreme Court. I assume the lawyer for Mark Meadows next step is going to try to get the 11 circuit to weigh in, to get the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether former federal officers can use this kind of removal.

But as I said earlier, the back half of the decision by Judge Pryor is a substantive analysis that even if former federal officers could use it, Mark Meadows can't and stepped outside because his actions were outside the color of his office. And so there's a detailed analysis there. My prediction, they're gonna lose at the United States Supreme Court level.

Maybe not on the issue of former, maybe the Supreme Court clarifies that former federal officers can use this. Maybe they find that interesting or they'll just deny the petition. We'll continue to follow it. And all of the losses Mark Meadows has, meaning he's got to go back. He's still in Georgia. Whenever Scott McAfee, the judge puts an end to the soap opera about trying to remove Fonnie Willis and all the silliness there and sets the case for

trial against Mark Meadows, he's going to have to deal with that because that's where his case is pending unless and until the United States Supreme Court rules otherwise. We'll follow it on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. I do my show Legal AF with a co-anchor Karen Friedman-Nifilo on Wednesdays, Ben Mycelis on Saturdays, only on this YouTube channel and then on audio podcast platforms of your choice. So until you're my next, I don't know, I forgot who I am. Until my next, I'll take, until my next legal AF, this is Michael Popak reporting.

Hey, Midas Mighty, love this report? Continue the conversation by following us on Instagram, at MidasTouch, to keep up with the most important news of the day. What are you waiting for? Follow us now.