Judge drops some charges in Trump Georgia election interference case

(NewsNation) — Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump, on Wednesday dismissed some of the charges against the former president, but not all of them.

The six charges dropped include two related to the phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In the call, Trump told Raffesnsperger: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”

McAfee explained his decision to dismiss the charges by saying “the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal.”

“As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crime but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their condition,” McAfee wrote. “They do not give the defendants enough information to prepare to prepare their defenses intelligently.”

Prosecutors could still seek a new indictment to the charges McAfee dismissed, he wrote in the order, according to the Associated Press.

This ruling comes as McAfee is also deciding whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade that critics say causes a conflict of interest. McAfee’s verdict is expected to come down at some time this week.

Trump, as well as more than a dozen more, are alleged by prosecutors to have violated Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. The former president, his lawyers, and other aides are accused of being involved in “criminal enterprise” to keep Trump in power his loss to current President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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