Fulton DA seeks to reinstate criminal charges against Trump in Georgia election interference case
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office is asking the state Court of Appeals to reinstate six criminal charges against Donald Trump and five of his codefendants in the election-interference case.
In a brief filed Tuesday, the DA’s office asked the appellate court to overturn a March decision by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee who said the state had not given the defendants enough specificity about the charges to adequately defend themselves.
The election-interference indictment “more than sufficiently placed (Trump and his five codefendants) on notice of the conduct at issue and allowed them to prepare an intelligent defense to the charges,” the DA’s brief said. “The indictment included an abundance of context and factual allegations about the solicitations at issue, including when the requests were made, to whom the requests were made and the manner in which the requests were made.”
The six felony solicitation counts dismissed by McAfee involve allegations that the defendants illegally urged Georgia officials to violate their oaths of office by convening a special session of the Legislature to appoint pro-Trump electors. Those officials include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, then-House Speaker David Ralston and members of the General Assembly.
Those charges were filed against Trump, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys John Eastman, Ray Smith and Bob Cheeley.
The indictment handed up in August 2023 contained 41 felony counts. There are now 32 counts that remain with Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, still facing eight felony counts, down from the 13 originally filed against him.
The case has been on hold since June when the Court of Appeals agreed to consider whether DA Fani Willis and her office should be removed from the case entirely. In their appeal, defense attorneys contend Willis should be disqualified because of her romantic relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade and a fiery church speech she gave when responding to the accusations.
The Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments for that on Dec. 5, and it will be heard by a panel of three judges: Trenton Brown, Benjamin Land and Todd Markel. They must issue their decision by the end of March.
The court has not said whether it will hear arguments in the part of the case involving the dismissals.
On Wednesday, Trump’s lead attorney, Steve Sadow, said the DA’s brief was incorrect on the law. “The trial court’s dismissal order properly decided that the state failed to sufficiently plead the allegations in the dismissed counts under Georgia law,” he said.
Trump investigation in Georgia
The Fulton County investigation into alleged election meddling is a massive story the AJC has been telling since Election Night 2020. Reporters Bill Rankin, Tamar Hallerman and editor Shannon McCaffrey anchor the coverage. Readers will find updates on the case across all of our platforms, including AJC.com, print and ePaper editions and in podcasts.
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About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
