Fulton County DA Fani Willis is reportedly requesting that the Georgia Court of Appeals reinstate six criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and his allies in the sprawling 2020 election interference case after a judge had dismissed the slew of felony counts.
In a brief filed Tuesday, the Democrat district attorney's office asked the appellate court to overturn Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee's dismissal decision issued in March, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. McAfee, who's presiding over the criminal proceedings, previously ruled that the state was not specific enough in the charging documents for the Trump co-defendants to be able to adequately defend themselves.
Willis is arguing that the indictment "more than sufficiently placed [Trump and his co-defendants] on notice of the conduct at issue and allowed them to prepare an intelligent defense to the charges," adding that it "included an abundance of context and factual allegations about the solicitations at issue, including when the requests were made, to whom the requests were made and the manner in which the requests were made."
"The brief filed by DA Fani Willis is simply incorrect on the law," Trump's lead defense attorney, Steve Sadow, said in a statement shared with Townhall. "The trial court's dismissal order properly decided that the State failed to sufficiently plead the allegations in the dismissed counts under Georgia law."
The six counts in question accuse the Trump party of felony solicitation:
See my post below for a more detailed breakdown. The charges dismissed include:
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) March 13, 2024
- 3 counts against Trump
- 1 count against Meadows
- 3 counts as to Giuliani
- 3 counts against Smith
- 1 count against Eastman
- 1 count against Cheeleyhttps://t.co/VZOrvmRTXB
The grand jury indictment originally contained 41 felony counts. There are now 32 counts remaining, including eight against Trump, which is down from the 13 initially filed. This includes the two counts tossed out last month; it was determined that Willis did not have the authority to bring those charges, which related to the alleged filing of false documents in federal court.
The Trump case has been in a state of limbo since the summer when the appeals court agreed to consider whether Willis should be kicked off the case. Oral arguments are scheduled to be heard on that matter in December, a month after the presidential election, by a panel of GOP-appointed judges. Willis initially tried to take Trump to trial before Election Day.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.