Sept. 8 (UPI) – A federal judge on Friday denied former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ request to move his Georgia election-interference case from state court to federal court.

U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones issued the ruling after conducting a hearing on the matter in Atlanta federal court last week in which he considered five hours of testimony from Meadows.

Jones ruled that Meadows’ alleged involvement in the former president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election was not part of his official duties as a federal government official.

“The court finds that the color of the Office of the White House Chief of Staff did not include working with or working for the Trump campaign, except for simply coordinating the president’s schedule, traveling with the president to his campaign events, and redirecting communications to the campaign,” Jones said in his ruling Friday.