Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has appealed an order compelling him to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election there.
Meadows was ordered last month by a judge in South Carolina, where he lives, to comply with a subpoena to appear before the special grand jury in Fulton County on Nov. 30. His appeal seeks to overturn that order.
Of particular interest to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is a Dec. 21, 2020, meeting Meadows attended with Trump, members of Congress, and others “to discuss allegations of voter fraud and the certification of electoral college votes from Georgia,” Willis wrote in her August petition seeking his testimony.
Meadows made a surprise visit the next day to Georgia, where he attempted to observe a ballot signature match audit being conducted by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, but was denied entry because the audit was not open to the public.
Meadows was also present on the infamous Jan. 2, 2021 phone call in which Trump instructed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “to find 11,780 votes” so that Trump could falsely claim victory in the state.
Raffensperger refused the order, prompting Trump and his supporters to respond with death threats and other threats of violence. Despite Trump’s efforts to get revenge, Raffensperger handily won reelection last week.
Willis also plans to compel the testimony of Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who phoned Raffensperger after the election, she said, “in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”
The Republican senator exhausted his appeals to avoid testifying, dead-ending at the Supreme Court. He had been scheduled to appear before the grand jury on Thursday, but the date was abruptly postponed until Nov. 22, according to Atlanta station Fox-5.