Georgia Prosecutor Appeals DISMISSAL of Charges Against TRUMP in Election Tampering Case
A Georgia prosecutor filed an appeal on Thursday challenging a ruling that dismissed some of the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and other defendants in an election tampering case.
The notice of appeal filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis does not explain why an appeals court should overturn the March dismissal. Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court rejected six counts in the indictment, including three against Trump, citing insufficient clarity about the nature of the crimes.
The decision was a defeat for Willis, but it left much of the broad indictment intact. According to Willis’ notice of cross-appeal, Texas law allows prosecutors to file their appeals before trial if defendants have already appealed a pre-trial finding.
Trump and the other defendants have urged an appeals court to overturn McAfee’s decision not to exclude Willis from the case due to his romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. A Georgia appeals court decided earlier this month to take up the case.
Trump and 18 people were indicted in August, accused of conspiring to illegally overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.
All of the defendants were charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, which is a broad anti-racketeering provision. Four defendants involved in the case have pleaded guilty after striking an agreement with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
The six dismissed counts accuse the defendants of encouraging public officials to breach their oaths. One count comes from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump asked Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
Another of the dismissed allegations accuses Trump of urging then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston to breach his oath of office by convening a special session of the legislature to illegally choose presidential electors. However, the judge left other counts in place, including 10 against Trump, and said prosecutors might seek a new indictment to try to reinstate the ones he dropped.