Judge Tosses Some Charges Against Donald Trump In Georgia Election Case – Deadline
By Ted Johnson
Political Editor
A Georgia judge has tossed out six of the counts in the election interference case facing Donald Trump and other defendants.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee dismissed criminal charges including solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. Trump was charged in three of the counts, tied to his efforts to convince Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Their conversation was captured in a recorded phone call. Trump still faces 10 counts.
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McAfee wrote that the six counts dismissed “contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of the commission, i.e. the underlying felony solicited.”
“They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways,” he wrote.
The ruling does not mean that the entire indictment is dismissed, McAfee wrote. Trump and a host of other defendants were charged in a racketeering scheme last year to try to reverse the results of the election in Georgia.
Prosecutors can still seek new charges, but they would have to be more specific. McAfee also said that prosecutors can still use the alleged “overt’ acts, like the Raffensperger phone call, for use in a trial on other charges.
The judge is currently considering whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade should be removed from the case after they disclosed a personal romantic relationship. Trump and other defendants claim that this created a conflict of interest.
No trial date has been set for Trump in the case.
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