A postelection trial in the Georgia Elections case, and that could actually happen. Well have expert legal analysis for you straight ahead. Meanwhile, a codefendant in that case is taking a different approach. Well explain the strategy for trumps former Chief Of Staff, mark meadows. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden was on the road yesterday talking about everything but the latest indictment for his predecessor. Well show you what he was focused on instead. Good morning and welcome to Way Too Early on this wednesday, august 16th. Im jonathan lemire. Thanks for starting your day with us. The clock has begun on the tenday windowt that former President Trump and his 18 codefendants have to voluntarily turn themselves in. Fulton County District attorney fani willis announced a sweeping Election Interference indictment on monday night and gave everyone charged until august 25th to surrender to authorities. If and when they appear theyll do so at the Fulton County jail in atlanta for potential mug shots and fingerprinting. An appearance before a judge will be scheduled later down the road. Trumps team is reportedly negotiating when he will schedule his surrender. His advisers for differing views on the best time for him to come in. With some pushing for the middle of next week and others opting for the last possible minute. The august 25th dead leanto voluntarily appear is two days after the first republican president ial debate. Trump has not announced yet if he will attend. Meanwhile, mark meadows is seeking to move his Fulton County election case to Federal Court. Donald trumps former Chief Of Staff was indicted along with him and 17 others on charges of attempting to overturn trumps Election Loss in the State Of Georgia. Meadows faces two counts in the 41count indictment including violation of the georgia racketeerinfluenced and corrupt organizations act, rico, and solicitation of violation of oath by a public office. In a 14page Filing Meadows attorneys defended his actions writing that he was merely acting in his official capacity as trumps Chief Of Staff. His attorneys detailed Arraignment For Organizing Oval Office meetings, contacting State Officials on trumps behalf, visiting a State Government building and setting up a phone call as among his duties. Meadows petition to move it case to Federal Court could result in a more favorable jury pool made up of conservative residents, and it would almost certainly mean no cameras would be allowed in the courtroom. However, fani Willis Office would still likely prosecute the case. Trump is also expected to mount a similar effort. Youll recall at least for now cameras are allowed in the state courthouse in georgia. Former trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has also called for moving the georgia case to Federal Court and criticized the d. A. For charging him and other defendants with racketeering. This is a ridiculous application with the racketeering statute. Theres probably no one that knows it better than i do. I was the first one to use it, but in major cases this is not meant for election disputes. This is ridiculous what shes doing. Its worth noting that during the 1980s when giuliani was with federal prosecutor in new york he was celebrated for his innovative use of racketeering laws to take down the leadership of Organized Crime families. Joining us now former u. S. Attorney and msnbc contributor barbara mcquade. Barbara, so great to see you this morning. So lets start with this idea of how several key defendants in this case in Fulton County are looking to move to from a state to a Federal Court. First of all, do you think that is a smart strategy for the former president and his codefendants . And then secondly do you think it has a chance to be successful . As for strategy, yes. I do think its probably a good strategy and the main one is one you said, which is the jury pool would become very different. Instead of a jury composed of residents of Fulton County which is primarily a democratic community, it would expand to the entire Northern District of georgia, and that Federal District is much larger, includes a number of suburban counties that tend to be republican lawyers. So to the extent that political affiliation is a proxy for how they might view this conduct, its probably a wise strategy. Now, does it have a likelihood of success, i think probably not. The question is whether the person was an officer of the United States at the time of conduct. Here, yes. As to mark meadows, donald trump, jeffrey clark. But it has to be within the scope of the authority of the official. And now what mark meadows says all i did was arrange some meetings and do some visits and handle some meetings for donald trump, if thats all he did within the scope of his job as president and his duties as president , that would be a valid defense. But here what the allegation is he abused his authority and acted outside the scope of his authority. If, for example, donald trump asked mark meadow tuesday go rob a bank, most rnt certainly we would say thats outside the scope of his authority. The judge will have to make a decision whether its outside the scope of the authority. If you take it at face value it alleges he exceeded the scope of his authority. Give us a sense how that rico statute is being applied here, and do you think its being used appropriately . Yes, absolutely. And he knows that. In fact, he mentioned he used it. Those were traditional crime family mafia cases. Those were Organized Crime, and any Organized Crime is subject to rico. In my former office we used it against violent street gangs and against corrupt Public Officials. Whenever you have a criminal organization that has a hierarchy its an appropriate use. And here its a way just like in all Organized Crime cases to allow prosecutors to go after not just the underlings doing the dirty work. And lastly certainly very clear the strategy being deployed by trump, giuliani, and others is to delay. Certainly this is big, sprawling, complicated case. Whats your best guess, your sense of time line when this could get started and how long a trial like this could take. I know fani willis said shes prepared to try the case in six months. Im sure she is. In a Perfect World that would be possible, but its not a Perfect World. So with 19 defendants all of whom will raise a variety of motion that have to be briefed and argued and decided, i could see this case extending well fast the November 2024 election. The rico cases my office handled were measured in years and not in months, and so i think were probably a year or more away from trial, probably two years away from trial. And how long would it take to try . Many of these defendants i think based on statistics seem likely to plead guilty, so the number for trial would pair down. If the number was five or six, i think the judge would break them down into smaller groups. Still, i think, in light of the number of overdacts listed in the indictment i think itll take some time to try this case. Itll be one of the other cases facing donald trump, perhaps the Election Interference Case in washington could go first. Great stuff as always. Barbara mcquade, thank you. Im certain well be speaking to you again soon. To that Election Interference against trump were learning more about the evidence collected by special counsel jack smiths office. According to documents made public yesterday, prosecutors obtained a Search Warrant back in january for, quote, all information associated with the twitter account realdonald trump. It was looking for, quote, evidence of criminal offenses between direct messages, searches, and other data. The elon musk owned Company Fought the warrant and only complied after being found in Contempt Of Court and sanctioned 350,000. Its unclear, though, at this point what prosecutors found after they got ahold of trumps twitter records. Trump suspended from twitter after january 6th. Hes since been reinstated but has not used the platform since, now called x. Still ahead here on Way Too Early, the latest on the devastating wildfires still burning across maui as President Biden publicly addresses the disaster. Plus what were learning this morning about Hunter Bidens attorney stepping down. Those stories, a check on sports and weather when we come right back. N sports and weather when we come right back age is just a number, and mines unlisted. Try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for Muscle Health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. Boost® high protein. Now available in cinnabon® bakeryinspired flavor. Learn more at boost. Com tv ella fashion moves fast. Setting trends is our business. Bakeryinspired flavor. We need to scale with customer demand. In real time. jen so we partner with verizon to take our operations to the next level. marquis with a custom private 5g network. ella with verizon business, we get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. marquis so our customers get what they want, when they want it. jen its not just a network. Its enterprise intelligence. vo learn more. Its your vision, its your verizon. 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Yesterday maui county began to identify those killed and were learning more about the harrowing stories of citizens trying to flee the fire or protect family members. Hawaiis governor says the wildfires are likely the worst Natural Disaster in the history of that state. Yesterday while in wisconsin President Biden spoke about the tragedy and said that both he and the first lady are planning to visit the Hawaii Disaster Area soon. Let me say devastating wildfires some of which are still burning hawaii that claimed the lives of 99 people so far and they havent cleaned things up yet. The deadliest wildfire in more than a hundred years. The whole city destroyed, generation of native hawaiian history turned into ruin. Im spoken to governor josh green multiple times and reassured him the statewide have everything it needs from the federal government. Its painstaking work and takes time and nervewracking. My wife jill and i are going to travel to hawaii as soon as i can. Thats what ive been talking to the governor about. I dont want to get in the way. Ive been to too many disaster areas, but i want to go and make sure they have everything they need. The president will be spending vacation out on lake tahoe. During a viz yesterday to Baltalground Wisconsin the president focused on the economy and his signature legislation. The president was in milwaukee touring a clean energy company. The bill was part of the effort to acknowledge the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law a year ago today. The white house says that since biden has been in office, private companies have committed more than 3 billion in manufacturing and Clean Energy Investments in wisconsin. Wisconsin, of course, one of the True Battlegrounds next year some believe might be the Tipping Point state for the Electoral College map. President biden expected to further Mark Theflation Act later this afternoon with a speech at the white house. Meanwhile, a key attorney for hunter biden is no longer going to represent him. The New York Times reports attorney Christopher Clark stepped down yesterday after revealing he intends to testify as a witness on behalf of the president s son. The Federal Court rules in Delaware Rohibit Clark from being a witness advocate. Clark witnessed hunter biden in the Plea Negotiations in a fiveyear investigation into gun and tax charges. Plea talks broke down meaning the case will likely go to trial. In a major shakeup of course announced at the end of last week the prosecutor in the case was elevated to special counsel status. That was announced by attorney general merrick garland. Still ahead in this show were going to have much much more about Donald Trumps legal trouble in georgia, but next well turn to sports and show you a very, very questionable strike zone last night here in washington. Plus more misery for yankee fans. Its a shame. While out west the dodgers continue to surge. 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No, this is not a strike. That wasnt even close. As you just