(Atlanta) The judge in Georgia’s criminal election interference case dismissed some of the charges against former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, but many other counts remain.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote in an order that six of the counts should be dismissed, including three against Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the November presidential election.
But the order leaves the other charges intact — and the judge adds that prosecutors could still file a new indictment on the counts he dismissed.
The six charges in question relate to soliciting elected officials to violate their oath of office. These include the two charges related to the phone call Mr. Trump made to Georgia’s Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger, on January 2, 2021.
It was during this recorded call that the then president asked Georgia’s election official: “We just need to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we got.”
In this criminal case, the prosecution accuses Mr. Trump and 18 others of conspiring to overturn the president’s 2020 election defeat in the state of Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Judge McAfee’s decision comes as he considers a motion by the defendants to have Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis removed from the case. The defendants allege that Mme Willis had a conflict of interest due to her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.