Georgia judge dismisses 6 charges in Donald Trump election racketeering case as too vague
The Georgia judge presiding over Donald Trump’s case for allegedly trying to steal the 2020 election dismissed six charges Wednesday from the indictment for not being specific enough against the former president and a handful of his co-defendants.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee dismissed charges alleging the co-defendants asked public officials to violate their oaths of office by switching presidential electors from those for President Joe Biden, who won the state, to Trump.
McAfee ruled that the indictment failed to provide enough detail about the underlying felonies in the requests that co-defendants were making in their meetings with lawmakers or a call to a state official.
“They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways,” McAfee ruled.
But McAfee said the problem could be "easily remedied." He left in place acts described in the indictment, such as Trump's call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he asked Raffensperger to "find" the votes needed to hand him victory in the state. McAfee said the acts could still be alleged as part of the conspiracy. He left in place 35 charges in the indictment.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could potentially seek an updated indictment that is more detailed. Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, said the problem could be remedied in about 12 hours.
Here is a description of the charges that were dropped:
Trump had three of the 13 charges against him dropped. The charges dealt with allegations he asked state House Speaker David Ralston and Raffensperger to change the results of the election.
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had one of two charges against dismissed, for setting up Trump’s call Jan. 2, 2021, to Raffensperger, asking him to find enough votes for Trump to win the state. Meadows is still charged as part of the overall racketeering conspiracy.
Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump’s campaign lawyer, had two of 13 charges dropped dealing with hearings in December 2020 where he and others asked state lawmakers to switch presidential electors.
John Eastman, a lawyer who helped develop the proposal to switch electors, had one of nine charges dropped for a meeting with state lawmakers.
Ray Smith, another lawyer, had two of 12 charges dropped dealing with meetings with lawmakers.
Robert Cheeley, another lawyer, had one of 10 charges dropped dealing with a meeting with lawmakers.
Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, said the court made the correct legal decision. “The sooner this whole show trial is dismissed, the sooner we can restore the rule of law in this country,” Goodman said.
Trump and 14 co-defendants are charged with a racketeering conspiracy that they tried to steal the 2020 election. Four other co-defendants have pleaded guilty.
McAfee has not yet scheduled the trial. He is also considering whether to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade from the case.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia judge dismisses 6 charges in Donald Trump election case
