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scott mcafee
Georgia Appeals Court Halts Trump Election Interference Case
"This is what judicial corruption looks like," said one critic.
Jun 05, 2024
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday paused proceedings in the election interference case against former U.S. President Donald Trump and other defendants until an appellate panel determines whether the prosecuting district attorney should be disqualified for an alleged conflict of interest.
In a one-page ruling, the court stayed the trial pending the resolution of an appeal by Trump and some of his co-defendants asserting that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, should be removed because of her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she appointed special prosecutor for the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did. Willis maintains there was nothing improper about their relationship.
The appellate court's stay means that McAfee will have to delay a decision on a motion filed by Trump's legal team arguing he should have executive immunity from prosecution. The right-wing U.S. Supreme Court—three of whose members were appointed by Trump—is expected to rule on the immunity issue in the coming weeks.
The case revolves around Trump's attempt to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia. Trump made a January 2, 2021 phone call in which he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, to "find 11,780 votes" in his favor, prompting Willis' investigation.
Willis charged Trump with 13 criminal counts for alleged violations of Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act related to his participation in a sprawling "criminal enterprise" aimed at overturning the election. A total of 19 people were initially charged; four co-defendants have pleaded guilty and have received punishments including fines, probation, and having to publicly apologize. They also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
According toThe Hill:
Oral arguments are tentatively scheduled for October, meaning the case likely will not proceed to trial until after the presidential election, where Trump is the Republican Party's presumptive nominee and is hoping to retake the White House and grind his cases to a halt. A trial date had not yet been selected.
The Georgia case is one of three federal and state criminal proceedings against Trump related to efforts to subvert the 2020 election and alleged mishandling of classified documents. Last month, Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments during the 2016 campaign to cover up alleged affairs.
Reacting to the stay, liberal lawyer and comedian Dean Obeidallah said on social media that "no one should be surprised that the GOP Supreme Court, Trump-owned Judge Aileen Cannon, or the GOP Georgia Court of Appeals are helping Trump."
"They are all Republicans and they are protecting their presidential nominee," he added. "This is what judicial corruption looks like!"
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Georgia Judge Won't Toss Trump Charges Under First Amendment
"Speech isn't protected when it's in furtherance of a crime, like saying 'stick 'em up' during a bank robbery," said one legal expert.
Apr 04, 2024
A Fulton County Superior Court judge on Thursday rejected a request by former U.S. President Donald Trump and most of his co-defendants to have their charges for interfering in Georgia's 2020 election dismissed on First Amendment grounds.
As Judge Scott McAfee explained, Trump and 14 other defendants in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act case "argue this prosecution violates the First Amendment's protections of political speech and activity, freedom of association, and the right to petition Congress as-applied to their alleged conduct, and further contend that the indicted charges are overbroad."
"After interpreting the indictment's language liberally in favor of the state as required at this pretrial stage," McAfee wrote in his 14-page order, "the court finds that the defendants' expressions and speech are alleged to have been made in furtherance of criminal activity and constitute false statements knowingly and willfully made in matters within a government agency's jurisdiction which threaten to deceive and harm the government."
"Even core political speech addressing matters of public concern is not impenetrable from prosecution if allegedly used to further criminal activity," he continued. "And independently lawful acts involving speech within the meaning of the First Amendment may nonetheless suffice to support a RICO conspiracy prosecution."
In other words, as University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance put it, "speech isn't protected when it's in furtherance of a crime, like saying 'stick 'em up' during a bank robbery."
The Hillnoted that the judge's Thursday ruling "leaves open the possibility that Trump could still raise a First Amendment defense down the road once the factual record is more developed."
Steve Sadow, the twice-impeached former president's lawyer, said in a statement that Trump and the other defendants "respectfully disagree with Judge McAfee's order and will continue to evaluate their options regarding First Amendment challenges."
"It is significant that the court's ruling made clear that defendants were not foreclosed from again raising their 'as-applied challenges at the appropriate time after the establishment of a factual record,'" the attorney added.
The Georgia election case has been held up recently by complications related to Democratic Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' love life, though McAfee ruled last month that she can continue to serve as the prosecutor. A trial date has not yet been set.
Trump is fighting three other criminal cases while campaigning as the presumptive Republican nominee to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the November election. There is also a New York state case stemming from hush-money payments during the 2016 election cycle as well as a pair of federal cases: one related to 2020 election interference and another that has to do with his mishandling of classified material.
In addition to 88 felony charges across the criminal cases, Trump is facing multimillion-dollar penalties in New York for "repeated and persistent fraud" related to his business and defaming E. Jean Carroll regarding rape allegations she made against him.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee overseeing the classified material case in the Southern District of Florida, on Thursday rejected the ex-president's attempt to dismiss charges based on claims that he had the right to keep the documents under federal law—though her decision also leaves him the chance to return to the argument if the case goes to trial.
In her three-page ruling, Politicoreported, "Cannon also shot down a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith to promptly reveal whether she agrees with Trump's claim that the Presidential Records Act—the post-Watergate law governing White House records—may have authorized him to keep classified records indefinitely even after leaving office."
This post has been updated to include Thursday's classified material ruling and the 88 charges, reduced from 91 in March.
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Willis Can Remain as Prosecutor in Trump Election Interference Case, Judge Rules
"Now let's return our attention to the ACTUAL person on trial," said one strategist.
Mar 15, 2024
A superior court judge in Fulton County, Georgia on Friday ruled that lawyers for Donald Trump's co-defendants in the case regarding the former president's alleged election interference did not provide evidence that would have supported disqualifying the district attorney prosecuting the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that the "allegations and evidence" against district attorney Fani Willis were "legally insufficient to support a finding of an actual conflict of interest."
Willis had been accused of "profiting personally from this prosecution" by a lawyer representing Michael Roman, a former opposition researcher for Trump who is accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Roman's lawyers claimed Willis had engaged in "self-dealing" by hiring Nathan Wade, with whom she had previously had a romantic relationship, to manage the Trump case.
"You think I'm on trial," Willis said to Ashleigh Merchant, the lawyer representing Roman, at a February hearing. "These people are on trial for trying to steal an election."
Trump and 18 co-conspirators were indicted by Willis' office last August and accused of participating in a vast "criminal enterprise" when they tried to overturn the election results in Georgia. Trump faces 13 charges, including soliciting a public officer to break their oath and violating the state's Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The state's investigation was sparked by a phone call on January 2, 2021 in which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to help him "find 11,780 votes" that would swing the election results in his favor.
The allegation regarding Trump's conversation with Raffensperger "remains at the heart of the RICO charge here, and that must get in front of a jury as soon as possible," said legal analyst Norm Eisen of the Defend Democracy Project.
McAfee, a Republican appointee, on Friday said Willis had made a "lapse in judgement" by hiring Wade but that the case could proceed if either Willis or Wade leave the legal team.
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, was among those who called for a prompt return to the prosecution at hand: that of the former president.
"Now let's return our attention to the ACTUAL person on trial," said Democratic strategist Christine Pelosi. "The disgraced, defeated former president who tried to steal an election!"
Eisen added that it is "time to turn the page on this distraction and get back to what this case is really about—the mountain of evidence against Donald Trump and his co-conspirators concerning one of the most serious alleged criminal conspiracies in American history."
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