CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig said Friday he was “stunned” that former President Donald Trump didn’t try to have his Georgia case moved to federal court.
Trump will not seek to move his case from state court to federal court, according to a court filing Thursday, according to NBC News.
Trump’s attorney Steven Sadow said the decision “is based on his well-founded confidence that this Honorable Court intends to fully and completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial and guarantee him due process of law throughout the prosecution of his case in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia,” according to NBC News.
Honig said he was “stunned” by the decision.
“I admit to being stunned by this one. We Saw Mark Meadows try to make this move unsuccessfully, the federal judge rejected it. Jeffrey Clark’s in the process of making that argument. He could lose at any moment, I think he will lose. Donald Trump’s team said, ‘No, we’re actually gonna stay in state court’,” Honig said.
WATCH:
“Two strategic reasons that could be driving this. One, the state judge has been right down the middle, he’s given some rulings that Trump likes, I think they want to stay with him. Second of all, that state trial is very far off. They’re going to get to see an early trial first. I think they like the timing, the procedural posture they’re in. I think they’re worried if they got moved to federal court could be put on a fast track.” (RELATED: Turley Explains How Trump’s Georgia Case Could ‘Collapse’)
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows tried to make the switch from state to federal court but was denied after a judge ruled Meadows did not sufficiently prove his actions related to the 2020 presidential election in Georgia were related to his job as chief of staff.