Fani Flexes, Takes Second Crack At Trump After Judge Tosses Charges
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the Georgia Court of Appeals this week to reinstate six racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump.
Willis had filed three solicitation counts against Trump for allegedly soliciting Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change the results of the 2020 election.
She brought the same charges against Trump’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The charges were dismissed against all defendants by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who ruled Trump and the others charged in Willis’s sprawling election interference case had not been provided with enough detail to mount a proper defense.
McAfee also dismissed three other charges against Trump because they “lie beyond” Willis’s jurisdiction.
“[McAfee] erred by quashing six counts of the indictment in this case, each of which alleged the crime of Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer,” Willis’s office wrote in a filing this week.
The state does not need to provide “specific details as to the target crime of violation of oath by public officer,” Willis argued in the filing, because those details are “not required for a charge of solicitation of violation of oath by public officer.”
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, dismissed Willis’s request as “simply incorrect on the law.”
Willis’s case against Trump has been paused since June while the Georgia Court of Appeals weighs whether to disqualify her from the case entirely over her inappropriate relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Wade testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and insisted that the case against Trump was “not politically motivated” and that he did “nothing to compromise the integrity” of it despite his romantic relationship with Willis.
Oral arguments on whether Willis can remain on the case are set to take place on Dec. 5.