Judge drops some charges against Trump in Georgia election interference case
A judge in Georgia has dropped three of the 13 counts leveled against the former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, as well as three other charges against his allies over their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued an order on Wednesday regarding six of the 41 counts against Trump and his allies.
McAfee dropped Count 5, which alleged that Trump solicited the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives to violate his oath of office on Dec. 7, 2020, via “requesting or importuning him to call a special session to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.”
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He also dropped Count 28, which alleged that Trump and his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows tried to get the Georgia Secretary of State to violate his oath of office on Jan. 2, 2021, via “requesting or importuning him to unlawfully influence the certified election returns.”
McAfee also dropped Count 38, which alleges that Trump tried to get the Georgia Secretary of State to violate his oath of office on Sept. 17, 2021, by asking “him to unlawfully decertify the election.”
Additionally, McAfee dropped one count of multiple defendants trying to get members of the Georgia Senate to violate their oaths of office on Dec. 3, 2020, by having them unlawfully appoint presidential electors. The judge dropped one count of Ray Smith III and Rudy Giuliani soliciting Georgia House of Representatives members to violate their oaths of office on Dec. 10, 2020, by trying to get them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors. He also dismissed one count alleging defendants solicited “members of the Georgia Senate to violate their oaths of office on December 30, 2020, by requesting or importuning them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.”
“As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited,” McAfee wrote, adding that the “entire indictment” is not dismissed.
Last August, Trump and several of his allies were indicted and accused of efforts to unlawfully overturn the results of the 2020 Georgia election, in which the state went for Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump was charged with 13 counts, which included violating Georgia’s racketeering act, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to file false documents and soliciting a public officer to violate their oath.
Around the same time, a grand jury in Washington, D.C. released an indictment against Trump over his alleged ties to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, accusing him of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
For his part, Trump and his legal team have denied any wrongdoing and have accused the various courts of engaging in a politically-driven witch hunt against the former president and likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
