Small win for Trump in Georgia election case

A Georgia judge Wednesday dismissed some charges in the sweeping RICO election interference case against former Preisdent Donald Trump but did not immediately rule on the effort to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the case over her affair with a senior prosecutor.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote in an order that six of the 41 counts in the indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump, who is on track to be the GOP’s nominee for the November 2024 presidential election.

But McAfee left in place all the other charges against Trump and his acolytes, and he said prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed, although that would likely delay a possible trial.

The ruling is a fresh blow for Willis, whose case has already been rocked by revelations about her affair with top lieutenant Nathan Wade.

Trump and his more than a dozen co-defendants have asked McAfee to disqualify Willis for alleged financial conflicts related to the affair.

The judge has said he plans to rule on the disqualification push by the end of this week. If he knocks out Willis, it could derail the case indefinitely or even lead to it being dropped altogether.

Despite the dismissal, the sprawling indictment against Trump still mostly stands. It accuses the former president chief of staff Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and other lawyers and aides with forging a “criminal enterprise” to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election to President Biden.

A handful of co-defendants, including lawyers Jenna Ellis, Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell, have already pleaded guilty.

The six counts that McAfee dismissed involve soliciting elected officials to violate their oaths of office. The judge ruled the indictments were not specific enough to allow the defendants to fight the charges.