Trump co-defendants want to move Georgia case to federal court
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Former Justice Department officer Jeffrey Clark, who was accused along with Donald Trump in the Georgia election case, has filed a motion to transfer the case to federal court.
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Former US President Donald Trump announces his run for president at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on November 15, 2022. (AP)
Former Justice Department officer Jeffrey Clark, who was accused alongside Donald Trump in the Georgia election case, has filed a motion to transfer the case to federal court.
The probe is investigating Trump's phone discussion with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021, just after it was revealed that Trump had lost the state to Joe Biden. Trump allegedly requested fellow Republican Raffensperger to redo the vote count.
Clark contended in a federal court filing on Monday that his notice of removal, together with that of co-defendant Mark Meadows, Trump's previous chief of staff, had the effect of transferring the whole state court case to federal court.
Meadows' lawyers filed a petition to move the case, arguing that his charges come from his conduct as a federal officer.
Monday, David Shafer, one of the state's phony electors, also filed a notice of removal. Today, Shafer negotiated a $75,000 bail bargain with Fulton County prosecutors.
Clark and Shafter claimed that their charges should be shifted since they were federal officers at the time of the alleged acts that led to the accusations.
Trump last Saturday lashed out against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for what he claims is allowing the capital to become a "War zone" ridden with crime.
Trump has consistently criticized Willis' thorough inquiry as political retaliation while denying any wrongdoing.
The defendants have until noon on August 25 to surrender, according to Willis, after which they will be booked at the Fulton County Jail, as per the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.
Trump backers have asserted that if he were detained at the Atlanta facility, his life would be in danger.
Alongside 18 of his allies, Trump is facing a racketeering indictment that lists 161 "overt acts" allegedly committed as part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election - 12 of those are tweets from Trump's own Twitter account.
The charges by the state of Georgia cite a tweet by Trump on December 3, 2020, that advertised an election fraud hearing convened by the state legislature and broadcast on the far-right TV network OAN.
Back in July, Trump vowed that he would continue to run for the presidential race if he gets convicted for any of the charges he faces, noting that nothing in the Constitution states that getting sentenced would stop him from campaigning.
