Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee presides in court, Friday, March, 1, 2024, in Atlanta. AP Photo/Alex Slitz, Pool (file photo)
Former President Donald Trump will no longer face two of the criminal charges in his 2020 presidential election interference case after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed charges Thursday connected to the false slate of Republican electors.
Following McAfee’s ruling, Trump is facing eight of the 13 original charges he was indicted for last year in a sweeping racketeering and conspiracy case against 19 defendants that accuses Trump, several members of his inner circle and other allies of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and several other states. McAfee wrote Thursday that his decision to strike the two charges is because the Fulton County District Attorney Office did not have the authority to prosecute the federal offenses in state court.
The dismissed charges were for filing of false documents and conspiring to file false documents. They were connected to a coordinated plan by Trump and allies to have alternate GOP electors submit false certificates declaring Trump the winner in Georgia. Prosecutors said the 2020 electoral meeting at the Georgia Capitol played a key role in showing the extent that Republicans would go to try to overturn President Joe Biden’s nearly 12,000 vote win over Trump. Biden’s win was confirmed by multiple recounts and audits, and many court challenges were unsuccessful.
A third false electoral document charge was also dismissed by McAfee Thursday against several Trump co-defendants who participated in the Dec. 14, 2020 meeting at state Capitol.
In March, McAfee dismissed several charges of violations of oath of office filed against Trump and several co-defendants. McAfee’s latest ruling in the sprawling case questioned he six counts related to a violation of oath of office that were presented to a grand jury in August.
Trump’s lead attorney Steve Sadow in the case commented Thursday on the development with a post on X.
“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,” Sadow wrote.
The case has been at a standstill for several months with a looming Georgia Court of Appeals hearing in December on defense attorneys’ request for a review of McAfee’s decision earlier this year allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case. The hearing is scheduled several weeks after Trump is set to take on Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
McAfee rejected defense attorneys’ arguments that Willis should be removed because she had a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Willis hired Wade to lead the probe in November 2021 and she contends the relationship started after they started working on the case.
Wade resigned in March shortly after McAfee ruled in May that the only way Willis could continue prosecuting the case against the former president and his co-defendants.
Four other defendants have reached guilty plea agreements with prosecutors that will let them avoid jail time if they cooperate as state witnesses.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX