Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has been asked to testify against Trump in the US probe

Oct 26 (Reuters) – Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff, was ordered by a South Carolina judge on Wednesday to testify in a criminal investigation in Georgia looking into whether the former president and his allies violated broke the law by attempting to repeal the 2020 election, according to media reports.

Meadows had asked a judge in South Carolina, where he resides, to dismiss a petition for his testimony issued by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, where prosecutors are overseeing the investigation.

The hearing was held in Pickens County, South Carolina, where Meadows resides, because the Fulton County grand jury technically requires a local judge to authorize subpoenas for out-of-state residents.

Meadows, a former North Carolina congressman, was on the phone when Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021, unsuccessfully urging him to “find” enough votes to reverse Joe Biden’s statewide victory. Trump has continued to falsely claim that the results were tainted by voter fraud, even after dozens of courts rejected his claims.

Meadows’ attorney, James Bannister, had argued that the grand jury was civil in nature, not criminal, and therefore could not coerce his client’s testimony. That argument was dismissed by the Georgia state judge overseeing the grand jury, but some Texas judges recently suggested they agree after several Witnesses residing there faced a similar challenge.

However, Circuit Court Judge Edward Miller ruled that Meadows was a “necessary and essential witness” and required to testify, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported.

Bannister was not immediately available for comment.

The grand jury investigation has already seduced a number of Trump inner circle allies, including his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who testified before the grand jury in August and was informed that he is a target of the investigation.

The petition for Meadows testimony noted that in addition to receiving the call from Raffensperger in December 2020, he also attended a White House meeting with members of Congress to discuss allegations of voter fraud.

Trump faces several other investigations, including a Justice Department probe into whether he was illegally handling classified documents.

reporting from Joseph; Editing by Jonathan Oatis

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