Judge drops 3 criminal counts in Georgia election interference case against Trump

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A judge narrowed the number of charges against former President Donald Trump on Thursday related to allegations of election interference in Georgia.

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee dismissed two counts against Trump and another against his allies on the basis that state prosecutors did not have the authority to file the charges.

'Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again.'

Steven Sadow, Trump's lead attorney in the Georgia case, released a brief statement on social media.

"President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again. The trial court has decided that counts 15 and 27 in the indictment must be quashed/dismissed," he wrote.

The dismissed charges alleged that false documents had been filed in federal court.

However, Trump will still face eight other charges related to the alleged scheme to overturn the official results of the 2020 election in Georgia. He and 14 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

Trump's attorneys had previously filed a motion for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to be removed from the case for fomenting "racial animus and prejudice against the defendants." The court agreed to hear arguments for her removal in December.

Willis has been accused of lying about details related to an improper relationship she had with Nathan Wade, who was removed as the special prosecutor in the election interference case.

In March, the same judge dismissed six other counts against Trump and co-defendants in the case, saying that the allegations were too vague.

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Legal expert offers bold prediction about Georgia election interference case — and Democrats won't like it: 'It's over'

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Legal expert Elie Honig believes the Georgia election interference case may be on life-support.

On Wednesday, the Georgia Court of Appeals halted all proceedings in the case involving former President Donald Trump until the court decides whether or not Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) should be disqualified from prosecuting the case. The appellate court has tentatively scheduled oral arguments to decide that issue on Oct. 4.

'If Trump and the defendants prevail in this appeal, this case is essentially a toast.'

Because the appeals process will take months to play out, that means Trump and his codefendants will not be tried in the case until after the election.

But Honig believes the case is effectively "over."

"It's over. Let's be realistic: It's not happening before the 2024 election. It's not happening in 2024. It's maybe not happening at all," he declared on CNN.

Honig based his prediction on the fact that the Georgia Court of Appeals not only decided to take the case, but it stayed all proceedings in the trial court pending its decision.

"They didn't have to pause the district court," he explained. "In fact, the trial court judge — when he issued his ruling allowing Donald Trump and the others to ask the appeals court to take the case — specified, 'While you all are doing that, I am going to continue holding proceedings in this trial court.' Now, today, just a couple hours ago, the appeals court said, 'No, no, no, pause that, too.'"

"So, that tells me that they are taking this appeal very seriously. And if Trump and the defendants prevail in this appeal, this case is essentially a toast," Honig predicted.

Aside from the question of Willis' potential disqualification, Honig spotlighted the "bigger" issue that could sink the case.

"There is a separate issue that Trump and the other defendants are going to raise that I think is a bigger deal, which is Fani Willis' inappropriate comments about the case outside of court," he said.

"Judge McAfee found those comments to be 'legally improper,' and then he did nothing about it," he explained. "And so, the defense is going to argue to the Court of Appeals, 'If the prosecutor makes 'legally improper' statements that impair the constitutional rights of the defendant, there needs to be a remedy for that."

The question, then, is what the remedy should be: Willis' disqualification or for the case to be dismissed.

Of course, whether Trump faces a jury in Georgia depends on the outcome of the election, as it would be unlikely that he would go to trial if he is the sitting president.

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Fani Willis calls herself 'the face of the feminist movement,' brags about her unrepentance — then sends Trump a message

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hasn't learned her lesson.

After an embarrassing spectacle that probed how Willis' personal decisions may have impugned her election interference case — resulting in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee publicly scolding her — Willis is not done talking about her prosecution of former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.

At an Easter event in Atlanta on Saturday, Willis said the hearings over her potential disqualification did not slow down the case.

"While that was going on, we were writing responsive briefs, we were still doing the case in a way that it needed to be done. I don't feel like we’ve been slowed down at all," she told CNN.

"I do think there are efforts to slow down this train," she continued, "but the train is coming."

Willis described those hearings as "noise" and a "distraction." Those hearings, however, were anything but a "distraction."

Instead, they were vital to ensuring that the rights of the defendants in the election interference case are not being violated by a zealous prosecutor. Indeed, Judge McAfee by no means exonerated Willis.

And yet, Willis bragged to CNN about not having done "anything that's illegal" — a low standard for a powerful prosecutor.

"I don't feel like my reputation needs to be reclaimed. Let's say for the record: I am not embarrassed by anything I've done," she told CNN. "You know, I guess my greatest crime is I had a relationship with a man, but that's not something that I find embarrassing in any way. And I know that I have not done anything that's illegal."

Also during the interview, Willis described herself as "the face of the feminist movement" and the "face of women."

"I feel more loved, actually. I've gotten a lot of support from women — that surprised me. I wasn't thinking that I was gonna be the face of women — women of every nationality," she said.

Willis later added, "I'll tell you this: Especially African-American women, who will just say, 'We are so proud. You are such a great representative of us.' But I would be lying to say it's only African-American women. I have had Caucasian women, Asian women, Indian women — I didn't think I was the face of the feminist movement, but somehow I became it.

"I feel like women feel like women are treated differently when they're professionals. And they're proud to see someone that is strong and trying to do the right job, certainly flawed like every human being is flawed. My father has a saying, 'Only one perfect man walked the face of the Earth, and they crucified him,'" she continued. "I am not a perfect human being, but what I am is a hard-working human being, and a human being that loves the community I serve and who understands this seat does not belong to me, it belongs to the people. And as long as I'm here, I'm going to try to do the job in a way that's honorable."

With that view of herself, one wonders how her head fits through the courtroom door.

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The tables turn: Judge orders Fulton County DA Fani Willis to respond to misconduct allegations, orders court date

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A Georgia judge has scheduled a hearing to address the misconduct allegations against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D).

On Thursday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee scheduled a Feb. 15 hearing to address the serious allegations of misconduct that surfaced against Willis last week. He ordered Willis to respond to the allegations in writing by Feb. 2

Last week, Michael Roman, one of the co-defendants in the election interference case targeting former President Donald Trump, filed a motion to disqualify Willis and to dismiss the case.

The filing argues that such action is required because Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade "have been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case, which has resulted in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers."

Moreover, the filing claims that Willis personally benefited from the "lucrative" contract the DA's office signed with Wade — benefits that include vacations and cruises — and that she was the sole authorizer of that contract.

Public records show that Wade has been paid at least $653,880 to work on the case, more than a half-million dollars more than other special prosecutors working the case, WXIA-TV reported.

While Roman's filing is short on direct evidence, it repeatedly cites "sources" close to both Willis and Wade as the basis of the allegations. Roman's attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, has promised that "concrete evidence" will be presented in court. Some of that evidence, she has said, is found in Wade's divorce proceedings, which were sealed in 2022.

Importantly, Willis has been subpoenaed to give a pretrial deposition in that divorce case. But she filed a motion on Thursday arguing her testimony is not necessary.

In her filing, Willis claimed that Joycelyn Wade is "obstructing and interfering with an ongoing criminal prosecution," accusing her of having "conspired with interested parties in the criminal election interference case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass and oppress District Attorney Willis."

The filing, however, "did not address the nature of the relationship between Willis and Wade," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution observed.

For her part, Willis attributed the scrutiny of her personal life to racial animus.

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