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A judge in the US state of Georgia has trimmed some charges from a criminal case against Donald Trump over alleged meddling in the 2020 presidential election.
In his decision on Wednesday, the judge in Fulton county, Scott McAfee, dismissed six counts related to claims that Trump and other defendants asked Georgia public officials to violate their oaths of office in their alleged efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state.
The dismissed counts “contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission”, McAfee wrote.
He stressed that his move did not mean “the entire indictment is dismissed” and that the state of Georgia may also seek a “reindictment supplementing these six counts”.
The order addresses three of the 13 counts faced by Trump as well as allegations against Mark Meadows, the former president’s White House chief of staff, his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and others. One of the charges alleged that Trump urged Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to decertify the results of the 2020 polls in the state.
The ruling does not effect a critical count underpinning the case, which alleges a violation of Georgia’s racketeering statute. This is typically featured in mob prosecutions and was used to capture broad misconduct in a conspiracy allegedly headed by Trump and joined by his 18 co-defendants.
A lawyer representing Trump said the ruling was “a correct application of the law, as the prosecution failed to make specific allegations of any alleged wrongdoing on those counts”, reiterating that the indictment as a whole was a political attack. A lawyer representing Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Giuliani said: “There simply was not enough detail to put the defendants on notice of what to defend against.”
McAfee’s ruling comes as he weighs a motion to disqualify Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who had obtained the sprawling 98-page indictment, over her romantic relationship with an outside attorney working on the case. Willis has denied misconduct.
Four defendants in the Georgia case have already pleaded guilty. State prosecutors had requested the trial begin for the remaining defendants on August 5, but the proceedings have slowed down what already was deemed the most complex case against Trump, who is facing four separate criminal indictments.
If Willis is disqualified, state officials would have the power to replace her. Any external appointment could take time and result in further delays to the trial or a shift in strategy.
Trump is set to face trial later in Manhattan this month in the first criminal case brought against him, over alleged “hush money” payments. He has also this week clinched enough support to become the presumptive Republican party nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
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