Judge Tosses Six Counts In Trump’s Georgia RICO Case

Donald Trump and his co-defendants won a victory on Wednesday, when a Fulton County Judge dismissed six counts of the Georgia RICO Case.

State Judge Scott McAfee has dismissed all counts filed under Georgia’s statute on solicitation by public officials to violate oath.

McAfee’s dismissal of the six counts will allow prosecutors in Fani Willis’ office to re-file those charges. McAfee’s decision to dismiss the six counts also gave prosecutors a partial victory. He upheld several overt actions that the DA’s office had included in its RICO conspiracy charges against Trump.

The ruling is still a setback for prosecutors. The Fulton County DA’s office made the most ambitious attempt to hold Trump accountable for his efforts to remain in power following the loss of the 2020 elections. They characterized the scheme as a massive conspiracy to coerce state officials and other people into breaking their oaths and giving the state to Trump.

McAfee has found that the indictment did not provide enough details to support the charges. This was a critical part of the story, where Trump asked state officials to break their oaths of office. McAfee found that prosecutors had failed to specify which part of the federal constitution oath or Georgia constitution oath Trump asked officials to violate.

McAfee wrote: “The defendants could have violated Constitutions, and therefore the statute, in dozens, or even hundreds of different ways.”

Willis’s position as the prosecutor is currently in serious jeopardy. Mike Roman, a Trump defendant, moved in January to disqualify Willis. He claimed that she had improperly benefited from the prosecution because she went on lavish vacations with the attorney she hired to prosecute her case. This led to an extensive, damaging hearing about Willis’ relationship and the attorney. The hearing examined whether Willis benefited from the payment he made for taking on the case and whether or not she and her attorney misled the court as part of the defense.

Judge McAfee will likely rule on the motion for disqualification this week.

McAfee’s dismissal of six counts undermines key parts of the indictment. This includes a charge relating to Trump’s infamous call made to Georgia Secretary Brad Raffensperger on January 20, 2021. In the wake of this call, Trump has been charged with “unlawfully soliciting, requesting, and impelling” Raffensperger not to honor his oath.

McAfee determined that the state did not specify which part of Raffensperger’s oath, or constitutional obligation Trump asked him to violate. When prosecutors re-file the charges, it will be necessary to detail what part of Raffensperger’s oath or constitutional obligation Trump was asking him to violate.

McAfee wrote: “This Court finds the incorporation the United States Constitution and Georgia Constitution is so generic that it compel[s]” dismissal the six counts. He kept 35 additional counts.