A Georgia judge dismissed two criminal counts in the state's 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump and one other count against Trump's allies on Sept. 12.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott F. McAfee, the presiding judge in the case against Trump, noted that state prosecutors did not have the authority to bring up the charges related to the alleged filing of false documents in federal court.
Nevertheless, McAfee allowed the remainder of the case to move ahead, along with the eight charges against Trump.
Trump and 14 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to racketeering and other charges coming from what prosecutors allege was a plot to reverse Trump's slim defeat in Georgia in the 2020 election.
The case has been on hold since June while the Georgia Court of Appeals considered whether lead prosecutor Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified over allegations of misconduct connected to a romantic relationship she had with a former top deputy.
Arguments in the appeals court are scheduled for December, which means the case will not progress before the Nov. 5 presidential election.
A separate federal case Trump encountered for his alleged attempts to reverse his supposed election defeat nationwide has also been slowed significantly by a Supreme Court ruling, which found that presidents have full immunity from criminal prosecution in certain circumstances.
The Sept. 12 decision means that five of the initial 13 criminal counts against Trump in the indictment received last year have now been thrown out.
McAfee dismissed three other charges brought against Trump back in March, citing the indictment lacking in sufficient detail. (Related: Georgia judge dismisses 6 charges against Trump in election interference case.)
Trump lawyer Steve Sadow lauded the recent ruling in a statement. "President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again. The trial court has decided that counts 15 and 27 in the indictment must be quashed/dismissed," Sadow said.
Racketeering charge against Trump to proceed as scheduled
Meanwhile, McAfee allowed the racketeering charge to proceed against all the defendants. The original 41-count indictment accused Trump and his allies of a wider scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
But McAfee wrote in his decision that certain counts involving allegations of filing false documents should no longer go forward because they don't belong in state court.
"Because Counts 14, 15 and 27 lie beyond this State's jurisdiction and must be quashed, the Defendants' motions to dismiss the indictment under the Supremacy Clause are granted in part," McAfee wrote.
Nonetheless, the judge did not grant a request to dismiss the whole indictment.
The case is on hold as Trump and other defendants appeal McAfee's decision not to disqualify Willis with the Georgia Court of Appeals set to hear arguments on that issue in December.
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Watch the video below about former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano's commentary on Trump's not-guilty plea in the Georgia election interference case.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
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