Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark cannot avoid arrest if they miss Friday deadline, judge rules

Mark Meadows and Jeffery Clark are among the 19 co-defendants charged in the Georgia election indictment

Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff, and Jeffery Clark, a Trump-era Justice Department official, will still be arrested even if they don’t surrender themselves to Georgia officials by Friday, a federal judge ruled.

US District Judge Steve Jones denied emergency motion requests from Mr Meadows and Mr Clark to try and delay the court proceedings regarding their alleged involvement in Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference in Fulton County from state court to federal.

In both motions, Mr Meadows and Mr Clark argued that because they were once federal employees, their criminal charges should be moved to federal court and thus proceedings should be placed on hold.

Mr Meadows added that his arrest deadline of 25 August at noon should be postponed because of a hearing set for Monday, 28 August, regarding evidence about moving charges to federal court.

However, Mr Jones ruled that Mr Meadows did not cite compelling evidence to do so.

“Meadows cites two cases in support of his argument that the Court can bypass the evidentiary hearing anticipated …. The Court finds neither citation to be persuasive,” Mr Jones wrote in his ruling for Mr Meadows.

He added: “The clear statutory language for removing a criminal prosecution does not support an injunction or temporary stay prohibiting District Attorney Willis’s enforcement or execution of the arrest warrant against Meadows.”

Meanwhile, Mr Jones denied Mr Clark’s similar request to delay all actions regarding the state proceedings until they are decided to be moved to federal court.

In Mr Clark’s request, he argued that because Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ indictment against himself and 18 other people, including Mr Trump, arose from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation,

In his response, Mr Jones clarified that: “Until the federal courts assume jurisdiction over the prosecution and the proceedings continue despite the notice of removal.”

Both men were charged with violating the RICO Act in Georgia. Additionally, Mr Meadows is charged with soliciting oath violations by a public officer and Mr Clark is charged with a criminal attempt to commit false statements and writings.

Mr Meadows and Mr Clark must surrender to Georgia officials by noon on Friday or face the possibility of an arrest warrant.

Already, nine of their co-defendants have surrendered in Fulton County and Mr Trump is expected to on Thursday evening.

Ms Willis cited this fact in her response regarding Mr Meadows’ requests saying: “It should be noted the defendant’s former boss, the former President of the United States, voluntarily agreed to surrender himself to state authorities, while other defendants have already surrendered.”

In a separate response, Ms Willis accused Mr Clark of seeking to “avoid the inconvenience and unpleasantness of being arrested or subject to the mandatory state criminal process, but provides this court with no legal basis to justify those ends.”