TRUMP’S EFFORT TO SCUTTLE GA. CASE REBUTTED

Prosecutor asks judge to dismiss lawyers’ motion

The Georgia prosecutor who’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws as they tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state fought back Monday against the former president’s attempt to remove her from the case and exclude certain evidence.

Trump’s Georgia legal team in March asked the court to toss out the report of a special grand jury that had been seated in the case and to prevent prosecutors from using any evidence or testimony stemming from the panel’s investigation.

They also asked that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office be barred from continuing to investigate or prosecute the case.

Willis responded in a filing Monday that the Trump’s motion is “procedurally flawed” and advances “arguments that lack merit.”

For more than two years now, Willis has been investigating the actions Trump and others took in the wake of the 2020 election.

She took the unusual step last year of asking for a special grand jury to aid the investigation, saying the panel’s subpoena power would allow her team to compel the testimony of people who might not otherwise cooperate.

The special grand jury, which did not have the power to issue indictments, was seated last May and dissolved in January after hearing from 75 witnesses and submitting a report with recommendations for Willis.

Though most of that report remains under wraps for now according to a judge’s order, the panel’s foreperson has said without naming names that the special grand jury recommended charging multiple people.

Trump lawyers Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg argued that the special grand jury “involved a constant lack of clarity as to the law, inconsistent applications of basic constitutional protections for individuals being brought before it, and a prosecutor’s office that was found to have an actual conf lict, yet continued to pursue the investigation.”

They also asked that their claims be heard by a judge other than Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury.

In her motion Monday, Willis asked that McBurney retain supervision of the matter and urged that Trump and Latham’s motions be dismissed or denied without holding a hearing.