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Update: Meadows request to delay arrest denied as Trump allies surrender in Georgia

Jeremy Loeb/BPR

This piece was originally published on August 23 at 11am.

While former President Donald Trump and several of his former associates plan to surrender themselves to a Georgia jail this week on charges related to what the indictment called a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the 2020 election, one former Trump official and North Carolina lawmaker is trying to avoid the same fate.

Former Trump Chief of Staff and NC Representative Mark Meadows filed a motion last week saying his actions outlined in Georgia’s indictment case were taken in service to his White House role, according to the Associated Press.

A judge has scheduled a hearing for Monday, and Meadows filed Tuesday to delay his possible surrender until after Monday’s hearing, asking the judge to immediately rule on his case so that it can be moved to federal court or to issue an order prohibiting his arrest before Monday.

On Wednesday a judge denied Meadow's request to extend the deadline for his arrest, according to Axios. Meadows, along with the rest of those indicted, will be required to turn himself in on Friday.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis rejected a request for an extension on Tuesday morning. Willis said in an email that “at 12:30 p.m. Friday I shall file warrants in the system,” according to the motion.

Meadows, along with the 18 other individuals including former President Donald Trump who are indicted in the case alleging illegal actions to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, are due to turn themselves in at the Fulton County jail by noon on Friday.

Some of those indicted have already turned themselves including conservative attorney John Eastman, attorney Kenneth Chesebro as well as former Georgia GOP chairman and state legislator David Shafer.

On Wednesday, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he is on his way to turn himself in.

Lilly Knoepp is Senior Regional Reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio. She has served as BPR’s first fulltime reporter covering Western North Carolina since 2018. She is from Franklin, NC. She returns to WNC after serving as the assistant editor of Women@Forbes and digital producer of the Forbes podcast network. She holds a master’s degree in international journalism from the City University of New York and earned a double major from UNC-Chapel Hill in religious studies and political science.