(Georgia Recorder) — Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has dismissed six of 41 charges against Donald Trump and multiple co-defendants in the Georgia 2020 presidential election interference case.
McAfee ruled Wednesday that the Fulton District Attorney’s office has not provided enough evidence to show six of the alleged charges of violations of oath of office can be proven. The six crimes the indictment charges were related to prosecutors’ claims the group tried to illegally overturn Georgia’s 2020 election.
McAfee dismissed several counts filed against Trump and five other defendants, who argued that several charges failed to clearly articulate how the prosecutors allege the defendants violated laws, McAfee questioned the legality of six counts related to a violation of oath of office that were presented to a grand jury in August.
“The court’s concern is less than the state has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the defendants,” McAfee wrote. “In fact, it has a legendary abundance. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is in the undersides opinion fatal.”
Anthony Michael Kreis, a Georgia State University constitutional law professor, said in a social media post the Wednesday ruling doesn’t appear to be much of a setback in the Fulton case against the defendants accused in the 2020 election case.
I think this is a temporary win of little immediate consequence *unless* the DA chooses to not go back to the grand jury. If I was a betting man, we’ll be back in four weeks talking about the breaking news that we have fresh counts. https://t.co/YrJF8xbEsn
— Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) March 13, 2024
The ruling however is another delay in the timing of a trial that Willis is pushing to start in August, several months in advance of the Nov. 5 election when Trump is expected to face Democratic President Joe Biden in a rematch of the 2020 presidential contest.
McAfee has said he intends to make a ruling by the end of this week on the defendants’ motion to remove Wills from the election interference collusion case. March 1 marked the dramatic conclusion of a series of hearings highlighted by intense testimony in which defense attorneys argued Willis should be booted from the prosecution for alleged ethical violations. Prosecutors claimed that the defense failed to prove that Willis benefited financially from the Trump case or that the trial outcome is connected to her starting a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Wade several months after he accepted the key role in the case.
