Mark Meadows' Attorney Has a 'Tight Needle to Thread:' Former Prosecutor

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' legal team has a "tight needle to thread" in Meadows' quest to have criminal charges in Georgia moved to a federal court, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said.

Meadows was indicted on felony charges alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday night. Trump's former chief of staff was accused of racketeering and solicitation of violation of oath by public officer. The indictment charges that Meadows texted the following to a Georgia official: "Is there a way to speed up Fulton county signature verification in order to have results before Jan 6 if the trump campaign assist financially."

Attorneys for Meadows on Tuesday filed a request to remove the case from Fulton County to a federal court, arguing that Meadows was performing official duties at the time of the alleged crimes and announcing an intention to "file a motion to dismiss the indictment" once the venue change is approved.

"Mr. Meadows has the right to remove this matter," the filing states. "The conduct giving rise to the charges in the indictment all occurred during his tenure and as part of his service as Chief of Staff."

"Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se," it continues. "Mr. Meadows intends to file a motion to dismiss the indictment ... as soon as is feasible."

Vance, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that Meadows' counsel was in the difficult spot of trying to convince a court that his alleged involvement in the plot to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election was part of his "official duties."

"Meadows atty is now in the unenviable position of arguing that using authority one only has because they're a public official to try to overturn an election is acting w/in the scope of official duties--a tight needle to thread, if he can," Vance wrote on Tuesday.

Meadows attorney George Terwilliger declined Newsweek's request for comment.

Ryan Goodman, former special counsel to the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense, had a similar criticism of the removal attempt in his own post to X.

Goodman wrote that it was "difficult to see how his defense lawyers can argue he was acting under 'color of his federal office' (which he needs) with acts like this" before citing the following section of the indictment:

"On or about the 27th day of December 2020, MARK RANDALL MEADOWS sent a text message to Office of the Georgia Secretary of State Chief Investigator Frances Watson that stated in part, 'Is there a way to speed up Fulton county signature verification in order to have results before Jan 6 if the trump campaign assist financially.' This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy."

Meadows was last year court-ordered to testify before the grand jury investigating the plot to overturn the election in Georgia after mounting failed legal challenges of subpoenas for his testimony.

The former White House chief of staff also testified in Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal probe of Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election—an investigation that eventually resulted in four felony charges being filed against the ex-president.