Mark Meadows just showed he's trying to distance himself from Trump: former prosecutor
Mark Meadows' recent court filings likely demonstrate an attempt to create separation between himself and his previous boss, a former federal prosecutor said on Saturday.
Harry Litman, a former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General, pointed to Donald Trump's former chief of staff's attempts to remove his Georgia criminal case to federal court as evidence he's trying to get away from the former president. His original filings and appeals show a pattern, the legal expert said Saturday.
"An interesting detail about Meadows: he moved to [remove] the day after the charges and he moved to appeal from the loss on the remand motion the same day. What's that about? Seems to me his excellent lawyers had sussed out the grouping on [defendants] issue and he's trying as hard as he can to put distance [between] himself and Trump, who given his overall delay strategy can be expected to run out every clock."
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Litman added that, if Meadows' appeals "have run while Trump is say a few months behind, he hopes that will be a reason to go before and separate from Trump."
Litman predicted how the bid to put space between him and Trump will end, and it's not good for Meadows.
"He's probably going to lose this gambit too," Litman said. "His case for [removal] is more complicated, whereas courts [should] be able to make quick work of Trump's claim. And have to imagine that [Judge] McAfee will be trying to hold the line at too many trials. On that score, I think we already may be looking at 3: 1) Chesebro + Powell; 2) [defendants] who try to [remove], whose trials McAfee won't want to start until appeals have run; and 3) the rest (though judge could try to lump 2 and 3)). And that # easily [could] go up: eg Eastman moves for speedy trial, he's entitled to one by early Jan."
Litman further asks, "What then?"