for this particular scheme those committed by trump and his codefendants? good morning. i think that what folks need to know first and foremost is that the rico statue here in georgia is a very different than the rico statute that most people might be familiar with on a federal level. the federal rico statute is much maudeline eat it and how it can be used in crimes and collectivity. georgia s rico statute is essentially a very broad conspiracy statute. it has been used because of it being such a great tool for prosecutors in both white collar and more violent criminal law settings. so, there is a real familiarity with it here by the folk county d.a. s office, the employee at one of the foremost experts on rico as well. fani willis has prosecuted some of these crimes herself as well. i think this is a kind of law that people generally associate
unrelated crimes committed by a host of different people, if those crimes are perceived to be in support of a common goal. and georgia district attorney fani willis, she is an expert at using we go to take down everyone from corrupt school teachers to violent street gangs. joining me now for a deeper dive, anthony michael, assistant law professor at georgia state university. it s good to have you back. you and i were together last weekend before this indictment was unsealed late monday night. we ve now had some time to look at some pretty bad hot takes, i think, on this indictment. i wanted to hear the focus on rico. fani willis has used it before. she is used to in the context of school corruption scandals. she s also using it right now for murder and other type of cases that constitute predicate acts for a big racketeering crime. how effective do you think it is for fani willis to use rico
clock that he and his 18 codefendants are facing in the georgia election interference case. full nda, fani, willis has given all of them until noon this friday to turn themselves in voluntarily. law enforcement officials telling nbc news they expected twice impeached quadruple indicted one term disgraced former president to certain himself at the fulton county deer no later than thursday former white house chief of staff, mark meadows, has filed a motion to dismiss citing immunity from prosecution. in that filing, meadows claims that, quote, as a federal official at the time of the charged conduct, he, as in, meadows is immune from state prosecution under the supremacy clause of the federal constitution. joining me now, barbara mcquade. former u.s. attorney of michigan, law professor at the university of michigan law school. also a co-host of the hashtag such as laws podcast. senior reporter of the atlanta journal-constitution. also logging 15 hours, marathon day, this past week in
let s walk through some of the logistics, as well. my understanding, correct me if i m wrong, fani willis and her team could be designated as special prosecutors in federal court if these cases with some of the defendants removed. in addition, do we have any ideas about the potential jury pool and from where that would be polled if this cases removed to federal court for mark meadows? that is the benefit if he is, ultimately, successful in getting this case removed. the northern district of georgia, depending on how this works out he either get jurors from a ten county swath around the city of atlanta. that it s urban and suburban areas that may be a little more conservative were fulton county where 72% of voters voted for joe biden in 2020. it is also possible, if this case gets removed, it goes to the entire 46 county area in the northern district of georgia.
of america. none of the codefendants had that. i think for them this argument is a nonstarter what happens of someone like mark meadows goes to federal court, doesn t successfully get his case dismissed? do the other defendants stay in state court? what are the logistics of that? that is a good question, katie. warren we are still trying to figure out. these cases are somewhat unusual. we have heard recently in fulton county that those law enforcement officials who killed folks in the line of duty were able to get their case removed to federal court. this is a much different circumstance. obviously, a very novel one involving the former president of the united states. we are trying to figure out of someone like trump or mark meadows is successful. does that mean that their portion of the case moved to set a record? or does the entire case move there d.a. willis has mentioned she wants to try all 19 defendants gather that is an open question to see whether she will succeed i will