UPDATED: Electors, ex-DOJ official appeal to move RICO case to fed court

Removal would grant the defendants a slightly more conservative jury pool that encompasses a wide swath of metro Atlanta, not just Fulton County.

The four were among the 19 people who were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury in August for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

During a hearing before Jones last month, attorneys for Shafer, Still and Latham argued their clients were acting as federal officials when they met on Dec. 14, 2020, to cast ballots and sign paperwork proclaiming that Trump had won the state — even though multiple vote counts had showed that Democrat Joe Biden was the winner.

Clark’s lawyer argued during a separate hearing that his client was acting within his scope as a Justice Department official, noting that Trump had sought out Clark’s advice on the 2020 election.

In the weeks following the election, Clark prepared a document that said the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia,” the indictment said. It urged Georgia officials to consider appointing a new slate of presidential electors.

Five of the Fulton defendants, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, have attempted — so far unsuccessfully — to move proceedings to federal court. Meadows appealed to the 11th Circuit last month. A hearing on the matter has yet to be held, and against him continue to move forward in Fulton Superior Court.