Georgia prosecutor to appeal dismissal of some Trump election case charges
FILE PHOTO: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis attends a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Alex Slitz/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Georgia prosecutors on Thursday said they would appeal a judge’s ruling dismissing some criminal counts in the 2020 election subversion case against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and several of his allies.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the prosecutor overseeing the case, said a state appeals court's decision to take up Trump’s bid to disqualify her office from the case also allows the court to review other rulings.
The case is one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces as he seeks to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden in a Nov. 5 election rematch.
Willis indicated she would ask the appeals court to overturn Judge Scott McAfee’s March ruling tossing out six counts, including three against Trump, that accused defendants of soliciting Georgia officials to violate their oaths of office. McAfee said the indictment was not detailed enough to sustain those charges, but left the remainder of the case intact.
The Georgia appeals court is already considering a bid by Trump and eight other defendants to disqualify Willis’ office from prosecuting the case, arguing that her romantic relationship with a former top deputy posed a conflict of interest.
Trump and 14 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to racketeering and other charges stemming from what prosecutors allege was a scheme to overturn Trump's narrow defeat in Georgia in the 2020 election. Four others initially charged in the case have pleaded guilty in deals with prosecutors.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)