Georgia DA Fani Willis asks appeals court to reinstate dismissed Trump charges
Embattled Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis has asked a Georgia appeals court to reinstate three charges against former President Donald Trump in the state election fraud case involving him and 14 co-defendants.
The Fulton County DA’s office argued that Judge Scott McAfee “erred” when he tossed the counts back in March, finding that the allegations weren’t specific enough.
The counts were tied to accusations that the defendants asked Georgia officials to violate their oath of office, and reverse the Peach State’s 2020 presidential results.
At the crux of that allegation is Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, during which the 45th president said: “I just want to fine 11,780 more votes, which is one more than we have.”
Willis argued that the dismissed charges “clearly alleged the underlying facts,” Law & Crime reported.
“The indictment more than sufficiently placed [defendants] on notice of the conduct at issue and allowed them to prepare an intelligent defense to the charges,” the Tuesday filing reads. “The indictment 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.”
McAfee last month dismissed two more charges against Trump — leaving eight counts against the former commander in chief intact.
The case has been on hold while Trump’s lawyers appeal another McAfee ruling from March, allowing Willis to remain on the case despite her admitted romance with ousted prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Trump, 78, also faces another criminal case in Washington DC over his attempts to remain in power following his defeat by Joe Biden.
The real estate tycoon is also due to be sentenced in Manhattan Nov. 26 after being found guilty of 34 counts of business fraud.
Trump lawyer Steve Sadow said in a statement that Willis’ Tuesday filing “is simply incorrect on the law. The trial court’s dismissal order properly decided that the State failed to sufficiently plead the allegations in the dismissed counts under Georgia law.”