Mark Meadows Just Rolled On Trump WITHOUT Taking A Plea Agreement!

The kudos for this one goes to former prosecutor, judge, and legal analyst Carol Lam on MSNBC. They were discussing former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows motion to have his Georgia state court moved to federal court. So far everybody who has seen it has disparaged it, but for clarity here context is important.

First of all, Meadows dragging this federal law out for political use is not a natural fit. Basically, the law was meant to protect federal law enforcement officers executing their sworn duties, usually either serving an arrest or search warrant. The bust goes sour, and there are fatalities. The law allows state cases to be tried in federal court, so that if the government finds that they followed all proper protocols, they would have immunity from the state charges.

And that’s the wild card that Meadows is trying to play, just without the fatalities. I won’t call Meadows’s motion a Hail Mary, it’s more like bluffing at the World Series Of Poker with a kangaroo straight. The Hail Mary is the end result Meadows is trying to achieve with it.

Follow this convoluted logic if you can. As Chief of Staff Meadows was a duly authorized federal official. And if there are state criminal charges filed, then as a federal officer performing his authorized federal duties, then he has the right to have a federal judge hear his case. The ultimate goal? Get the case to federal court, and then convince the judge that as a federal official executing his federal duties, he is entitled to federal immunity from the Georgia state charges. Which is patently ridiculous.

But that’s the legal tightrope Meadows has chosen to fall off of. First he filed the motion, then immediately sh*t in his mess kit by imperiously demanding that the federal judge give him summary judgement before he had to turn himself in for booking and processing. Double barrel birds from the judge. Then he appealed to Fulton County DA  Fani Willis to delay his booking date until after the hearing. To paraphrase Spaceballs, Be here, or Pizza is gonna send out for you. 

So far Meadows is two for two. First he pisses off his federal judge by ordering him to do something, then he makes himself a problem child for Fani Willis. But then he jumped the shark. The smart move would have been for Meadows to let his lawyer put their best legal foot forward, and let the chips fall where they may. But Willis preempted him, calling witnesses like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, testifying that he felt intimidated by Meadows. That isn’t where Meadows wanted the attention.

So he had to testify. And the wheels promptly fell off. Meadows’s whole argument is that he was a federal officer, duly performing his federal duties, and so is entitled to federal immunity. Which meant, when Meadows took the stand, only one thing.

Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump ordered him to call Kemp and Raffensperger. Trump ordered him to go to Fulton County to try to get into the secure ballot recount. It was Trump who ordered Meadows to stiff the delivery driver for the tip on the KFC bucket.

I like to call this the Nuremberg Defense. In the Nuremberg trials, every goddamned Nazi who got hauled before that tribunal had the same canned response, I vas just following orders! Why not? After all, most of the higher ups were either dead or in Argentina. But it didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.

because there are rules. Meadows claimed that everything he did was on orders from Trump in order to ensure a fair and free federal election. Which is a legitimate thing for a President and his Chief of Staff to work for. But federal elections are actually adjudicated in the states. And the federal government has no right to interfere in the state electoral process. And as Nicolle Wallace, who worked in the White House pointed out, that’s what you have a political coordinator for. Not only was Meadows not acting in his official capacity when he played fast and loose, he was actively violating the Hatch Act for politicking on the federal clock.

My personal prediction? Meadows falls flat on his face in federal court, both on the legal points, as well as he pissed off the judge. And then he goes on trial in Georgia, and gets convicted. Meadows may or not try to cut a deal with either Jack Smith or Fani Willis, but there’s no reason for either one of them to toss him a lifeline.

Because here’s the McGuffin. In his desperation to get into federal court so he could get immunity, Meadows did two things. First, in trying to justify his actions in all of the things that Willis accusing him of, he actually admitted to committing all of them. And second, and even more importantly, Meadows laid the entire mess on Trump’s shoulders! He was just following orders.

Why would either Willis or Smith deal with Meadows? He already admitted to almost every activity Willis accused him of in federal court, and laid all of the blame at Trump’s feet. Both Smith and Willis can have Meadows’s hearing testimony read in open court at their trials. And the only way that Meadows can defend himself from his own statements at trial is to take the stand in his own defense, a 30 car pike up looking for an intersection looking at Meadows hearing testimony. And the only way for the Trump defense to mitigate the damage of the Meadows hearing testimony would be to call him to the stand and try to roast him, running the risk of him burying Trump on cross examination.

For me, this would be the ultimate justice. Meadows has had multiple opportunities to roll over on Trump and cut a deal in either Fulton County or Jack Smith. He had an arrogance that he could hold it all together, and everybody would live happily ever after.  But that means Meadows had to remain untouched. Instead he lost his sh*t on his motion, and Willis forced him to testify in open court. Under oath. And instead of getting a get out of jail free card, he admitted to everything that Willis accused him of to try to explain it away, he turned around and laid his every sin at Trump’s feet. And now they’re both in the hurt locker.