In the trial against former US President Donald Trump in the state of Georgia for alleged attempted election fraud, the judge responsible has rejected several charges. Judge Scott McAfee on Wednesday dismissed six minor counts of the indictment. At the same time, he emphasized: “That doesn't mean that the entire accusation is invalid.”
Trump and a total of 18 other defendants were indicted on 41 charges in Georgia last August. These include conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to make false statements, making false documents, and incitement to violate an oath of office. Four of them have already pleaded guilty and thus avoided possible prison time. The charges are based, among other things, on a law to combat organized crime.
In a famous phone call with Georgia's election director Brad Raffensperger, the elected president demanded that he “find” the 11,780 electoral votes necessary for his victory in the southern state. In addition, the confirmation of Joe Biden's victory should be prevented by false electoral votes in favor of Trump.
The points now rejected by the judge concern alleged attempts to incite violations of the oath of office. The prosecution did not provide “sufficiently detailed” information for this, explained McAfee. The judge rejected the defense's request to delete more important charges.
McAfee also wants to announce his decision this week regarding the possible removal of chief prosecutor Fani Willis from the case. She has come under great pressure because of her intimate relationship with the special investigator in charge of the case and has been accused of a conflict of interest. Trump lawyers have requested that Willis be removed from the case and charges against their client be dropped.
The prosecutor had previously requested that the trial begin on August 5th – exactly three months before the presidential election, in which Trump will most likely run against incumbent Joe Biden. If Willis is now excluded from the case, the start of the trial is likely to be significantly delayed.
Trump is also facing federal charges over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. In total he is criminally charged in four cases.
