Judge DISMISSES three charges against Trump in Georgia election interference case as pressure grows on Fani Willis

Former President Donald Trump has had three charges in his Georgia election case thrown out by the judge considering whether to disqualify Fani Willis. 

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote Wednesday in an order that six of the charges in the indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump. 

But the order leaves intact many other charges in the indictment and the judge wrote that prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed.

The six charges in question have to do with allegedly soliciting elected officials to violate their oaths of office. That includes two charges related to Trump's infamous phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021 asking him to 'find' 11,780 votes.

The surprise ruling comes at a time when McAfee faces a self-imposed deadline of this week to rule on whether to disqualify Willis from the case following bombshell revelations about her affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. 

Former President Donald Trump has had six charges against him in Georgia dismissed by the judge considering whether to disqualify Fani Willis.

Trump still faces 10 separate criminal charges in the case, which he has blasted as a witch hunt since he was charged and arrested.

And he now faces a total of 88 criminal charges nationwide, down from 91.

Trump has long contested prosecutors' characterizations of his call to Raffensperger during his fight to overturn the Georgia results, saying it was a 'perfect' phone call. 

'The Court’s concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal,' McAfee writes.

'This does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed,' said McAfee, who is overseeing the trials of Trump and 18 codefendants.

The counts in question charge defendants with Solicitation of Violating of Oath by Public Officer. Statutes prohibit public officers from intentionally violating the terms of their oath.

Count Two fo the indictment alleges that defendants solicited members of the Georgia Senate to violate their oaths by asking them to appoint 'fake' electors for Trump rather than for Joe Biden, who won the state. 

The ruling comes as Fulton Count DA Fani Willis awaits a separate decision over whether she is disqualified from the case after revelations about her affair with prosecutor Nathan Wade

Judge Scott McAfee ruled that the oaths of office in question were 'generic' and the indictment contained a lack of detail on the specific chargers

Former President Donald Trump saw three counts against him fall away, although he still faces 10 in Georgia alone

Some of the dropped counts relate to Trump's call and other defendants alleged efforts to 'solicit' Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to violate his oath

Prosecutors can still use Trump's call to Raffesnperger as evidence charging their racketeering conspiracy, but counts relating to alleged solicitation to violate oath are falling away

Cout Five charges Trump solicited the speaker of the state House to violate his oath by asking him to call a special session of the legislature to appoint electors.

Other counts related to charges that codefendants solicited lawmakers to violate their oaths.

Count 28 alleges Trump and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows solicited Raffensperger to violate his oath, and Count 38 alleges that Trump solicited Raffesperger to violate his oath by asking him to 'unlawfully decertify the election.' 

Defendants argue that the indictment doesn't cite the oath the officials were required to take, that the counts don't detail the 'exact term of the oaths that are alleged to have been violated.'

McAfee's ruling notes that all the oaths contain a variation that the oath-taker must support the Constitution of the U.S. and of Georgia.

McAfee found that the incorporation of the U.S. and Georgia constitutions is 'so generic as to compel this Court to grant the special demurrers' and strike away the counts.

'On its own, the United States Constitution contains hundreds of clauses, any one of which can be the subject of a lifetime’s study. Academics and litigators devote their entire careers to the specialization of a single amendment,' he writes. 

'As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited. They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently,' wrote McAfee.

Prosecutors have the option of filing a superseding indictment, but that could lead a delay in the case whose spot on the calendar is already in jeopardy.

McAfee said he will decide by the end of the week whether he will disqualify Willis after holding a bombshell hearing following revelations she had an affair with top prosecutor Nathan Wade.

Such a move could also stall the case. If the entire DA's office were removed from the case, one option would be for the judge to bring in prosecutors for a neighboring jurisdiction who would have to familiarize themselves with the case and could go in a different direction.