Associated Press
The Judge overseeing the Georgia 2020 election interference case on Wednesday dismissed some of the charges against former President Donald Trump and others, but many counts in the sweeping racketeering indictment remain intact.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote in an order that six of the counts in the indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee. But he left in place other charges, and he said prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed.
The ruling is a blow for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose case has already been on shaky ground with an effort to have her removed from the prosecution over her romantic relationship with a colleague. It’s the first time charges in any of Trump’s four criminal cases have been dismissed, with the Judge saying prosecutors failed to provide enough detail about the alleged crime.
The sprawling indictment charges Trump and more than a dozen other defendants with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The case uses a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former President, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment Wednesday. A Willis spokesperson also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said during that call.
The ruling comes as McAfee is considering a bid to have Willis disqualified from the case over what defense attorneys have alleged is a conflict of interest due to her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Willis, who has said their relationship ended months ago, has said there is no conflict of interest and no reason to remove her from the case.
The nearly 100-page indictment details dozens of acts by Trump or his allies to undo his defeat, including harassing an election worker who faced false claims of fraud and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of Electoral College electors favorable to Trump.
Other defendants include former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who aided the then-President’s efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia. They have pleaded not guilty.
McAfee’s order leaves Meadows facing only a RICO charge. Jim Durham, a lawyer for Meadows, declined to comment.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
11 comments
Earl Pitts "Sage Political Expert Emeritas" American
March 13, 2024 at 12:16 pm
Good afternoon America,
It looks like this Georgia Judge may be the only one involved in this Georiga case with Sage Wisdom.
Thank you America,
Earl Pitts “ESQUIRE” American
Whites Hate POC
March 13, 2024 at 4:47 pm
The Judge gets a Single Vote on Election Day, same as me.
Old geezer
March 14, 2024 at 8:49 pm
Your saying all people with lighter skin hate all people with darker skin is straight up racist. How does that help anybody. Lots of people you’d call white, other people who really are racist call ethnic. I’m creole and I get hate for being white from those who just asume I’m racist, and hate for being not ethnic enough or not black. It’s all tiresome garbage. Stop meeting hate with hate and call out truth to power which is what we all need to do. The truth is the elites in both parties don’t care what color you are as long as they can manipulate you and distract from what’s really going on. It’s all the same at the top. It’s a club and we ain’t in it. So we gotta be strong and support each other. Respectfully, someone who doesn’t hate but sure gets plenty of it from all sides.
rick whitaker
March 13, 2024 at 7:01 pm
earl, so you are rooting for the crook over law enforcement and the courts, right, that figures for a scumbag like you.
Phil Morton
March 13, 2024 at 12:20 pm
The charges can and should be re-filed so justice isn’t done with Trump yet.
Dont Say FLA
March 13, 2024 at 4:04 pm
What happened? Was Judge McAfee also diddling Nathan Wade and the Trump Dirty Tricks people found out and threatened to tell all? Or what?
Because we all heard the phone calls.
Even if anybody thinks “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes” was okay to say because maybe he meant there were legitimate votes that had been legally cast but hadn’t been counted due to missing them somehow, that theory goes out the window when you consider the remainder of that statement by Trump.
Trump’s own statement about finding more votes contained a damning addendum that confessed his fraudulent intention. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes which is one more than we have.”
“One more than we have” is a clear request to invent one vote that was not cast for Trump.
And one request for one fraudulent vote? That’s enough.
Lock him up and set the bed bugs loose.
Far Right Qanon Hates You Now Too, Runny Ronny
March 13, 2024 at 4:48 pm
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) slammed right-wing social media influencer Libs of TikTok for “lying” about a Sunshine State law on Wednesday, accusing the account of sacrificing “truth” in order to “generate clicks and engagement farm.”
The post from Libs of TikTok made note of an incident in a “normally quiet, peaceful neighborhood in Florida” that “was shaken this week when 3 illegals from Guatemala were arrested for forcing a woman into a car and s*xually ass*ulting her.”
Dont Say FLA
March 14, 2024 at 1:42 pm
And here I thought it was going to be something about Rhonda, having been exempted from Florida’s Sunshine law, blowing wads and wads and gads and gads of State of Florida Treasury’s taxpayer cash on his silly campaign. Guess we will have to keep waiting for that likely story to come out.
Crazy Nancy Macey
March 14, 2024 at 3:49 pm
Hi guys just a reminder, Trump’s civil conviction as a rapist does not count because it’s not a criminal conviction.
And yes, I am still trying to find any conviction, be it criminal, civil or kangaroo, for the person I built a career off of by claiming he raped me despite the total absence of any conviction whatsoever.
Trump’s not a rapist, but my self proclaimed rapist is definitely a rapist and SHAME ON YOU for calling me out on my total bullshit!
David Pakman
March 17, 2024 at 11:57 am
Trump is toast. Still facing tons of other charges.
Dont Say FLA
March 17, 2024 at 1:31 pm
What had happened was that McAffee wasn’t going to remove Fani WIllis from her job, so he strategically announced the charges being dropped (on technicalities ) a couple days prior to his announcement that Fani could stay, thus softening the blow on the MAGA snowflakes. And the MAGA snowflakes aren’t bright enough to realize the dropped charges all can and will be recharged. The jokes on MAGAs. They think they just won a lot, but their guy is losing and bad.
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