He has not yet ruled on motions to disqualify Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference/RICO cases, but Judge Scott McAfee issued an order Wednesday morning dismissing six charges in the indictment. This included three against former president Donald Trump.
Scott McAfee, Fulton County Superior Court judge, wrote in an order that six counts of the indictment had to be quashed. This included three against Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for 2024.
The judge’s order does not affect other charges. He wrote that prosecutors can seek a new arrest on charges he dismissed.
Six charges are being considered, all of which relate to a solicitation to elected officials to break their oaths. Two of the charges relate to a phone call Trump placed to Georgia Secretary Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2020, a Republican.
McAfee’s decision is based on the fact that the charges in question did not provide enough detail about the underlying crime ostensibly sought.
JUST IN: Judge McAfee has thrown out six counts in the Fulton County indictment of Trump and several codefendants. He says the allegations that the defendants tried to get GA officials to violate their oaths were not detailed enough. pic.twitter.com/0ewQ1TeWip
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 13, 2024
The dismissal appears to be without prejudice. This means that prosecutors can refile the charges if they are more specific. The order, as noted above also leaves the remaining charges intact. This is a small victory, but it’s still a win.
This week McAfee plans to decide on the motions disqualifying Willis.