Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis faces a “difficult question” after Judge Scott McAfee dropped three charges against former President Donald Trump in his election interference case on Wednesday, conservative attorney Jonathan Turley said.
McAfee, who is overseeing the trial into Willis’ lawsuit against Trump, quashed six charges against Trump and his co-defendants. Trump was charged with three of the counts for allegedly soliciting former Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to violate their oaths of office.
Willis’ case against Trump focused on his alleged efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia, a swing state he narrowly lost to President Joe Biden in 2020. The probe highlighted Trump allegedly asking Raffensperger to find enough votes to tilt the election in his favor, as well as an alleged plan to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Turley wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Willis now faces the difficult decision of whether to try to secure a new indictment to fix the alleged mistakes in the original charges.
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“Judge McAfee dismissal of the six counts presents a difficult question for the prosecution,” he wrote. “If they try to secure a superseding indictment to correct the earlier mistakes, it will make it difficult to try the case before the election.”
If Willis’ office were to try to secure such an indictment, Trump’s legal team would be allowed discovery and time to prepare defense against the new allegations, which would “take time off of the clock,” Turley wrote.
He added that McAfee’s ruling “does not disable the case” but “adds yet another setback for the prosecution.”
“The court has indicated that they can still rely on the underlying conduct to make out the general racketeering charge. However, that theory was already thin soup and it just got a bit thinner,” he added.
Newsweek reached out to Willis’ office for comment via email.
The timing of Trump’s legal cases has become a key issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Trump, who has secured enough delegates to become the Republican nominee, is facing three other criminal cases, two of which are federal.
Critics have warned that if the cases are not tried before the election and he wins, he could order federal charges against him dropped.
Meanwhile, Willis’ case has already faced a major setback after attorneys representing one of Trump’s co-defendants accused Willis of having a relationship with Nathan Wade, a prosecutor hired for the Trump case.
Trump and his legal team have argued Willis should be disqualified from the case over the relationship because she allegedly benefited from taxpayer dollars by hiring Wade. Willis admitted to having a relationship but argued it is not grounds for disqualification because it began after he was already hired for the case.
Regardless of whether Willis is disqualified, it has already caused the case to be delayed as McAfee held hearings into whether she should be required to leave the case. He has not yet issued a ruling.
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