Prosecutors appeal dismissal of some charges against Trump in Georgia election interference case
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia prosecutor on Thursday appealed a ruling dismissing some of the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and other defendants in an election interference case.
The notice of appeal filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis does not say why an appeals court should reverse the March dismissal. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee quashed six counts in the indictment, including three against Trump, saying the counts did not allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of the violations.
The ruling was a setback Willis, though it left much of the sweeping indictment intact.
Willis’ notice of cross appeal said state law allows prosecutors to file their own appeals ahead of trial when defendants have previously appealed a pre-trial ruling.
Trump and the other defendants have asked an appeals court to reverse McAfee’s ruling not to disqualify Willis from the case over a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. A Georgia appeals court earlier this month agreed to take up the issue.
Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to 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, or RICO, law, an expansive anti-racketeering statute. Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
The six dismissed counts charge the defendants with soliciting public officers to violate their oaths. One count stems from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
Another of the dismissed counts accuses Trump of soliciting then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston to violate his oath of office by calling a special session of the legislature to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.
But the judge left in place other counts — including 10 facing Trump — and also said prosecutors could seek a new indictment to try to reinstate the ones he dismissed.