A federal judge has thrown out former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ bid to obtain a large trove of records from the National Archives aimed at bolstering his defense against criminal charges in Georgia.
U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly ruled on Tuesday that Meadows’ effort — which he initially brought in a local D.C. court but was transferred to federal court — was flawed from the start. Though a judge in Georgia had authorized Meadows to pursue the records, Kelly noted that state courts rarely have authority over action taken against a federal agency.
“The Court cannot bypass this jurisdictional defect,” Kelly, a Donald Trump appointee, ruled.
Meadows had hoped to access emails, text messages and other White House documents held by the National Archives to help prepare his defense against criminal charges brought against him in Georgia for his role in aiding Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 results in the state.
Meadows has remained largely below the radar since Trump left office in 2021, resisting an appearance before the House Jan. 6 select committee even as he turned over text messages that became a roadmap for the panel’s investigation. Meadows was also compelled by a federal judge to testify to special counsel Jack Smith’s team last year.
The former Republican congressman from North Carolina was a ubiquitous presence as Trump sought to subvert the 2020 election, coordinating messages with the campaign, state officials and the RNC. He was ultimately charged in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for his involvement in Trump’s effort to flip the outcome in the state.
Meadows was a participant in a phone call between Trump and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the then-president asked election officials to “find” just enough votes to reverse his defeat. He also traveled to Georgia amid a closely scrutinized recount and asked whether the Trump campaign could help fund the proceedings to speed them up.
An attorney for Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
