A judge in Georgia has thrown out, at least for the time being, six of the 41 counts in the state RICO indictment that Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis filed against former president Donald Trump and 18 others.
In his 9-page ruling, Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six charges, which allege that Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and others solicited state officials to violate the terms of their oaths of office. The ruling does not disturb the remaining 35 counts, including the RICO charge. (RICO refers to the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, an analogue of the federal RICO statute.)
In connection with the six charges at issue, the indictment alleges, in very general terms, that the defendants solicited Georgia legislators and/or election officials (mainly, the secretary of state) to do the following:
* Unlawfully appoint presidential electors (counts 2, 5, 6 and 23);
* Unlawfully influence the certified election returns (count 28); and
* Unlawfully decertify the election (count 38).
Judge McAfee ruled that the indictment is defective on these charges because it does not specify what term of the oath of office the state officials in question were being asked to violate.
JUDGE DISMISSES SOME COUNTS AGAINST TRUMP IN FANI WILLIS ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE
The judge reasoned that the constitutions of Georgia and the United States, which state officials swear to uphold, contain numerous clauses that impose myriad responsibilities on office holders. In the above described counts, McAfee…
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