Main image: Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee speaks in court, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool); Inset left: FILE – Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks, March 9, 2024, in Rome, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File); Inset right: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, March, 1, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, Pool)
While Donald Trump mounts an interlocutory appeal that he hopes will end with Fulton County DA Fani Willis’ (D) disqualification from prosecuting him, Willis is challenging the dismissal of several charges against the former president and his allies.
In a Thursday filing in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s court, Willis filed her notice of “cross appeal” to overturn the judge’s March 13 ruling favorable to the defense — this, as the defense guns for the DA’s ouster.
“The state’s cross appeal corresponds to the Defendants’ interlocutory appeal of this Court’s ‘ORDER ON DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS AND DISQUALIFY THE FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE AND DISQUALIFY THE FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE’ ISUED ON MARCH 15, 2024,”” Willis’ filing noted.
On March 15, McAfee partially granted a defense motion to disqualify but allowed the prosecution to choose which prosecutor had to exit the case: DA Willis or Nathan Wade. The court’s order was based on a finding that a romance between Willis and Wade resulted in “a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team.” Though Wade resigned hours later, the Trump team argues that McAfee “erred as a matter of law by not requiring dismissal and DA Willis’ disqualification.”
As Trump makes this case in appellate court, Willis evidently intends to revive charges that McAfee dismissed on March 13.
That day, McAfee decided that counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28, and 38, charging solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer to overturn the 2020 contest in the Peach State, had to be thrown out for failing to “allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited.”
The decision was a small win for Trump, longtime ally Rudy Giuliani, former law professor and Trump Jan. 6 lawyer John Eastman, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Ray Stallings Smith III and Robert Cheeley, two Atlanta-area lawyers. The upshot of the ruling was the subtraction of three charges against Giuliani, Smith and Trump, and minus one charge each for Eastman, Cheeley and Meadows.
Notably, dismissed count 28 accused Trump and Meadows of “unlawfully” soliciting Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find 11,780 votes” during a phone call on Jan. 2, 2021.
“The Court’s concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance,” the judge explained. “However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal.”
The judge emphasized that the charges did not give the named defendants “enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently[.]”
While McAfee dismissed the counts, he pointed out that this wasn’t necessarily the last word on the charges.
“This does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed. The State may also seek a reindictment supplementing these six counts,” a footnote said. “Even if the statute of limitations has expired, the State receives a six-month extension from the date of this Order to resubmit the case to a grand jury.”
Now, DA Willis is taking the appellate route to undo McAfee’s dismissal order.
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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