Trump GA case advances as former President faces other legal challenges

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A ruling last week by Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee finally put closure on a January 2023 motion to have Fulton County District Attorney Willis removed from the Trump case, allowing Willis to continue to prosecute Trump and all co-defendants, including Kenneth Chesebro.

Trump’s lawyers argued Willis allegedly had a personal financial stake in the case by “benefiting from her romantic relationship” with Special Prosecutor Wade while vacationing together.

Willis acknowledged “a personal relationship,” she claimed their relationship started after Wade was hired to prosecute Trump.

The Washington Post recently reported the entire allegation stemmed from one of Trump’s attorneys.

Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents former Trump campaign aide Mike Roman, filed open-records requests for Wade’s contracts and billing invoices. “She obtained a trove of financial records from his pending divorce case. And crucially, she leaned on a long-standing friendship with Wade’s former law partner, who claimed knowledge of all of it in hundreds of now-public text messages,” The Washington Post reported.

“Ultimately, the gambit fell short when Fulton County Superior Court (when) …  attorneys had failed to prove Willis and Wade were in a relationship when she appointed him or other disqualifying conduct. But the ruling sharply criticized Willis and Wade, and demanded that one of them step away from the case,” The Post reported.

If the intent was to delay the case, counsel was successful.

“And damage was done along the way. The matter dragged on for more than two months, delaying proceedings and making it less likely that the complicated conspiracy case will go to trial before the presidential election. It deeply embarrassed Willis and Wade, who were forced to testify about their relationship and answer profoundly personal questions from defense attorneys whose clients they had charged, all of which undermined public credibility of their prosecution of Trump and his allies. Wade resigned from the case a few hours after McAfee’s order dropped,” The Washington Post reported.

Florida case

Also last week, a Federal judge in Florida ruled against Trump, rejecting a bid to throw out his classified documents criminal case. The Associated Press reported the judge appeared skeptical during hours of arguments of a separate effort to scuttle the prosecution ahead of trial. According to the AP, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued a two-page order Thursday saying that though the Trump team had raised “various arguments warranting serious consideration,” a dismissal of charges was not merited. Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, is presiding over one of the four criminal cases against the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

New York and D.C.

Meanwhile in Washington and New York — As former Vice President Mike Pense spoke out against endorsing Trump, on Monday, Trump’s lawyers told a New York appellate court that the former President does not have enough money to post bond in the amount of $454 million, for the civil fraud judgment, as Trump appeals.

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, a Fulton County Georgia judge dismissed six of the 41 election interference charges against President Donald Trump and his associates, according to court documents obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal.

During a recent interview with Fox News, Pence said, “During my presidential campaign, I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, and not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised on January the 6th.”

Meanwhile back in Georgia, as previously reported, Judge Scott McAfee dismissed the six counts for lack of detail.

“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,” McAfee said in his opinion.

“They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways,” McAfee added, noting ” these pleading deficiencies do not apply to the corresponding overt acts listed in Count 1, specifically, overt acts 23, 42, 55, 102, 112, and 156.”

The six counts were summarized by the court as follows:

• Count Two alleges that multiple Defendants solicited elected members of the Georgia
Senate to violate their oaths of office on December 3, 2020, by requesting or importuning
them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;

• Count Five alleges that Defendant Trump solicited the Speaker of the Georgia House of
Representatives to violate his oath of office on December 7, 2020, by requesting or
importuning him to call a special session to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;

• Count Six alleges that Defendants Smith and Giuliani solicited members of the Georgia
House of Representatives to violate their oaths of office on December 10, 2020, by
requesting or importuning them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;

• Count 23 alleges that multiple Defendants solicited elected members of the Georgia Senate
to violate their oaths of office on December 30, 2020, by requesting or importuning them
to unlawfully appoint presidential electors;

• Count 28 alleges that Defendants Trump and Meadows solicited the Georgia Secretary of
State to violate his oath of office on January 2, 2021, by requesting or importuning him to
unlawfully influence the certified election returns; and

• Count 38 alleges that Defendant Trump solicited the Georgia Secretary of State to violate
his oath of office on September 17, 2021, by requesting or importuning him to unlawfully
decertify the election.

As previously reported, during the 2020 election, Trump called a Georgia official asking him to “find” 11,780 votes that would have given him a win in Georgia.

Also as previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, the case against former President Donald Trump in Georgia hit another obstacle in February as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is now facing misconduct charges, putting the entire case in legal jeopardy.

In a packed courtroom with many members of the community, including clergy and politicians defending Willis.

Willis was asked by her own office not to resume her testimony in February. The testimony was paused in the wake of allegations she had an inappropriate relationship with the chief prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case against Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants, including Wisconsin native Kenneth Chesebro.

In a motion obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal, lawyers argued “Mr. Chesebro is alleged to have acted in ways that interfered with Georgia’s rules, processes, and procedures of determining its electors for the 2020 presidential election. However, every action undertaken by Mr. Chesebro, however limited, was justified under Georgia and Federal law. Mr. Chesebro, being an expert in constitutional law, acted within his capacity as a lawyer in researching and finding precedents in order to form a legal opinion which was then supplied to his client, the Trump Campaign. Nothing about Mr. Chesebro’s conduct falls outside the bounds of what lawyers do on a daily basis; researching the law in order to find solutions that address their clients particularized needs.”

However, Chesebro claimed he acted “within his capacity as a lawyer” for former President Donald Trump, claiming he was only trying to find solutions for his client’s “particularized needs.”

The misconduct allegations look into who paid for travel when accompanied by the lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade.

Pursuant to Georgia law, if Willis is disqualified, a new attorney would take over who would be faced with the decision to proceed with the charges against Trump and co-defendants, or drop the case altogether.

Assuming Willis is disqualified and a new lawyer went forward with the case, the probability of a new trial before the 2024 November election is unlikely, The Associated Press reported, noting Thursday’s testimony was “fiery and sometimes combative,” as Willis was grilled by a team of lawyers about her romantic relationship with Wade. Counsel for the former president argued the relationship Willis had now creates a conflict of interest that should force Willis off the case.

Trump posted to social media in February attacking the integrity of Georgia’s judicial system.

“It was a FAKE CASE from the start, and now everybody sees it for what it is, a MAJOR LEAGUE SCANDAL!” Trump said.

“The legal pundits, experts, and scholars are all screaming that this Witch Hunt, which has hurt so many fine people and patriots, should be immediately terminated and permanently erased from everyone’s memory. The stench of what has happened should shame Georgia no longer. It should get back to GREATNESS, and FAST!,” Trump added.

It is not yet known of the judge will rule on whether Willis and her office should be disqualified from the case.

In February, the Wisconsin Law Journal requested an interview with Willis in-person in Atlanta, but she was not available.

The Associated Press, Washington Post and Steve Schuster contributed to this report.