Georgia election hearing updates: Court adjourns with no decision yet in Meadows case
Mark Meadows took the stand on Monday.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, charged along with 18 others in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, took the stand on Monday to try to have his trial moved from state to federal court.
Among other charges, the indictment cites Meadows' role in the infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call then-President Donald Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger -- actions that Meadows argues he took as a federal official acting "under color" of his office.
Latest headlines:
- Hearing ends, no decision from the judge
- Raffensperger: Trump's 'outreach to that extent was extraordinary'
- Meadows dodges questions on if he believed Trump won election
- Meadows: 'I don't know that I did anything that was outside of my role'
- Meadows describes 'biggest surprise' in indictment
- Meadows says his role was to be in almost every meeting Trump had
Meadows addresses Hatch Act
Mark Meadows testified that the Hatch Act does apply to the White House chief of staff, but he said “there are some differences of opinion on how it should apply.”
Meadows insisted that when it comes to his interactions with people connected to Donald Trump's campaign, including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, he said, "I didn't [see ] that as a violation of the Hatch Act."
The Hatch Act limits the political participation and speech of federal employees.
-ABC News' Mike Levine
Meadows dodges questions on if he believed Trump won election
Mark Meadows repeatedly dodged the prosecution's questions on whether he believed Donald Trump's claims about the results of the 2020 presidential election.
"He believed he won," Meadows said, to which the prosecution pressed, "Did you believe that?"
"I believed there were additional things that needed to be investigated," Meadows replied, without saying whether he personally believed Trump won the 2020 election.
The prosecution repeatedly pressed Meadows, asking at one point if he meant that he did not have enough information to come to his own conclusion.
Meadows again deflected, saying there were a number of allegations, but he believed the signature verification issue in Fulton County, Georgia, had more credibility than the other allegations.
-ABC News' Soorin Kim
Prosecution asks Meadows about Raffensperger call
When Mark Meadows' hearing resumed Monday afternoon, prosecutors honed in on the time frame between when Donald Trump asked Meadows to set up the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and when the call took place.
Prosecutors also tried to undercut the claim that the Raffensberger call was federal business. Under questioning, Meadows noted that no one from the White House counsel’s office or the Department of Homeland Security was on the call.
When the prosecution asked Meadows why he believed by Jan. 2, 2021, that questions about the election in Georgia were still "outstanding," as Meadows had testified, the former chief of staff said because Trump "kept asking me about it."
Meadows says judge asked 'insightful questions'
On direct examination, Mark Meadows' testimony at one point became almost a one-on-one conversation between him and the judge, as they both swiveled their chairs to directly face each other.
The judge asked Meadows his own questions, including asking him for specific instances when he went out and got information.
They were "very insightful questions," Meadows told the judge when he was finished.