Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows must testify in Georgia's election meddling probe: judge

• A South Carolina judge says Mark Meadows is not immune from testifying in a Georgia grand jury case.
• Meadows has claimed executive privilege to avoid facing Georgia DA Fani Willis' 2020 election probe.

A South Carolina judge has ruled that former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows must testify before the Georgia grand jury investigating his former boss' alleged 2020 election meddling.

The ruling in the Pickens County court of common pleas, which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports will be appealed, finds that Meadows is a "necessary and material" witness and must comply with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' months-old request that he share what he knows about the embattled former president's campaign to overturn President Joe Biden's lawful victory.

Meadows' attorney, James Bannister, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about future appeals.

In his most recent filing, Bannister argued that Meadows can't be forced to testify in Georgia because the same executive privilege claim he's used to get out of appearing before the January 6 select committee investigating the deadly siege at the US Capitol applies here.

Select committee chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters after the panel's last public hearing that the group formally subpoenaed Trump after getting stonewalled by dozens of his personnel. House investigators said more than 30 former Trump aides and allies, including Meadows, have pleaded the Fifth when questioned or simply refused to cooperate with the select committee to date.

Willis is investigating Trump's efforts to change the electoral outcome in Georgia, including urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the nearly 12,000 votes Trump would have needed to overtake President Biden in the Peach State.

Former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson recently agreed to cooperate with Willis.