Sept. 28 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump on Thursday dropped his attempt to move his criminal case in Georgia to a federal court.
Steven Sadow, an attorney for Trump, wrote in a filing in the Fulton County Superior Court that Trump had indicated earlier this month he may seek a removal.
“President Trump now notifies the Court that he will NOT be seeking to remove his case to federal court,” Sadow wrote in the filing.
“This decision is based on his well-founded confidence that this Honorable Court intends to fully and completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial and guarantee him due process of law throughout the prosecution of his case in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia.”
Five of Trump’s co-defendants in the case are currently seeking to have their cases removed to a federal court. Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows had also petitioned a federal court for removal but was shot down by a federal judge.
Meadows was named along with Trump and 17 other defendants in a sweeping organized crime indictment handed up by a grand jury in Fulton County, Ga., last month. He is the highest government official other than Trump charged in any of the current four cases against the former president.
The U.S. legal code allows for criminal prosecution of an officer of a U.S. agency in a state court to move to a federal court for acts carried out “under the color of such office.” The risky tactic is one way a defendant could broaden the jury pool or seek constitutional immunity.
In order for a move to be granted, a judge would have to agree that a defendant was acting in his official capacity when he allegedly participated in Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
