Georgia election judge dismisses charges against Trump

ATLANTA (AP) The judge in Georgia's 2020 election interference case on Wednesday dismissed some of the charges against former President Donald Trump and others, but the rest of the racketeering indictment large scale remains intact.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee threw out six counts, including three against Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election. But the judge left other counts in place indictments, including 10 against Trump, and said prosecutors could seek a new indictment to try to reinstate those he had dismissed.

The ruling is a blow to Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis, who already faces an attempt to have her excluded from prosecution because of her romantic relationship with a colleague. It's the first time charges in one of Trump's four criminal cases have been dismissed, with the judge saying prosecutors failed to provide enough details about the alleged crime.

The sprawling indictment accuses Trump and more than a dozen other defendants of violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The case uses a law normally associated with gangsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a criminal enterprise designed to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Defense lawyers applauded the move, which follows challenges to Trump's indictment from former New York City mayor and current Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former New York chief of staff the White House, Mark Meadows, and lawyers John Eastman, Ray Smith and Robert Cheeley. They all pleaded not guilty.

The move constitutes a correct application of the law, as the prosecution has not made specific allegations regarding alleged wrongdoing on these counts, Trump attorney Steve Sadow said. The entire case against President Trump is political, constitutes election interference, and should be dropped.

Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Willis, declined to comment, saying only that prosecutors were reviewing the decision.

The six contested counts accuse the defendants of inciting public officials to violate their oaths. One of the counts stems from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on January 2, 2021, in which Trump urged Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes.

Another of the dismissed counts accuses Trump of soliciting David Ralston, then speaker of the Georgia House, to violate his oath of office by calling a special session of the legislature to illegally appoint presidential electors.

McAfee said the charges did not provide sufficient detail about the nature of the violations.

The lack of detail regarding an essential legal element is, in the undersigned's opinion, fatal, writes McAfee. They do not give defendants enough information to intelligently prepare their defense.

McAfee's order leaves Meadows facing only a RICO charge. Jim Durham, Meadows' attorney, declined to comment. The order dismissed three of the 13 charges against Giuliani.

There simply wasn't enough detail to inform defendants of what to defend against, Giulianis' attorney Allyn Stockton said, adding that the ruling effectively removes nearly 25 percent of the charges against his client.

McAfee wrote that prosecutors could seek a new indictment to supplement the six dismissed counts. Even though the statute of limitations expired, the judge gave the state six months to resubmit the case to a grand jury. Prosecutors could also seek permission to appeal the decision. The case has not yet been judged.

The decision comes as McAfee plans to try to disqualify Willis from the case because of what defense attorneys say is a conflict of interest due to her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. McAfee is expected to rule by the end of this week on the disqualification request, which would call into question the broadest of four criminal cases against Trump.

Willis, who said their relationship ended months ago, said there was no conflict of interest or reason to remove her from the case.

The nearly 100-page indictment details dozens of alleged acts by Trump or his allies to overturn his defeat, including harassment of an election worker, who faced false allegations of fraud, and the attempt to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of the voters and appoint a new slate of Electoral College electors favorable to Trump.

Of the 19 people initially charged in the indictment, four pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. They include prominent Trump allies and lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.

The Georgia case covers some of the same ground as the federal case brought in Washington by special counsel Jack Smith, who accuses Trump of conspiring to overturn his election defeat in a desperate attempt to stay in power. Trump is separately accused by Smith of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and thwarting government efforts to recover them.

Trump is expected to go on trial later this month in the New York case, accusing him of falsifying his company's internal records to hide the true nature of payments made to a former lawyer who helped Trump bury negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign.

___

Richer reported from Boston.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://apnews.com/article/georgia-election-interference-2020-trump-46e0b68c25719c404130f7e6eab69dcd The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos