Former President Donald Trump scored a small victory Wednesday as a Georgia judge dismissed three counts against him in the election interference indictment.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee dismissed counts against Trump and his co-defendants, according to ABC News, adding the dismissed counts were related to Solicitation of Violation of Oath by a Public Officer.
Trump, who originally faced 13 counts, now faces 10.
“The ruling is a win for Trump and several of his co-defendants, who filed to dismiss the counts on the grounds that they were legally deficient,” per ABC.
McAfee agreed.
They “fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission,” he said, adding, the “lack of detail concerning an essential legal element” is “fatal.”
“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,” the order said.
Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani also had three counts dismissed, bringing his total counts now down to 10.
“Prosecutors alleged that Trump and some of his co-defendants violated the law by pressuring members of the Georgia legislature to unlawfully appoint presidential electors,” CNN reported. “They also brought the charge against Trump and his ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for the January 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump asked Raffensperger to ‘find’ the votes that would win him the state.
The order quashes one of the two counts against Meadows, who now faces one count — the racketeering or RICO count that all 19 defendants were charged with, per CNN.
It ordered quashes one of the nine counts against Trump election lawyer John Eastman; three of the 12 counts against Georgia lawyer Ray Smith III; and one of the 10 counts against Georgia lawyer Robert Cheeley, according to ABC.
ABC added, “Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.”
“Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants,” according to ABC.
Trump has said the entire investigation and subsequent case is politically motivated.
Trump is now facing 88 charges over the four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, D.C., and Florida, according to CNN.
