Judge forges ahead with pretrial motions in Georgia election interference case

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 12:10 AM EDT, March 28, 2024


ATLANTA (AP) — The charges against former President Donald Trump in the Georgia election interference case seek to criminalize political speech and advocacy conduct that the First Amendment protects, his lawyers argued in a court filing challenging the indictment.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee plans to hear arguments on that filing and on two pretrial motions filed by former Georgia Republican Party chair David Shafer during a hearing set for Thursday. Lawyers for Shafer argue that he acted legally when he and other state Republicans signed a certificate asserting that Trump won the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

McAfee is forging ahead with the case even as Trump and other defendants have said they plan to seek a ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis. The judge earlier this month rejected defense efforts to remove Willis and her office over her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, but he did give the defendants permission to seek a review of his decision from the appeals court.

Willis in August obtained an indictment against Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to try to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, which the Republican incumbent narrowly lost to Democrat Joe Biden. All of the defendants were charged with violating Georgia’s expansive anti-racketeering law, along with other alleged crimes.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-georgia-election-indictment-fulton-county-b741e2e5abf40d61edb004a89bee1716

[riversedge]

1. Shafer's lawyers also ask that three phrases be struck from the indictment: "duly elected and qualified presidential ele

MY hope is the jury finds him guilty and the judge throws the books at him.



...........

Most of the charges against Shafer have to do with his involvement in helping to organize a group of Georgia Republicans to cast Electoral College votes for Trump even though the state’s election had been certified in favor of Biden. The charges against him include impersonating a public officer, forgery, false statements and writings, and attempting to file false documents.


His lawyers wrote in a filing that prosecutors are seeking “to punish as criminal conduct by Mr. Shafer which was lawful at the time.” They argued that Shafer “was attempting to comply with the advice of legal counsel” and the requirements of the Electoral Count Act.

Shafer’s lawyers also ask that three phrases be struck from the indictment: “duly elected and qualified presidential electors,” “false Electoral College votes” and “lawful electoral votes.” They argue that those phrases are used to assert that the Democratic slate of electors was valid and the Republican slate of electors in which Shafer participated was not. They argue that those are “prejudicial legal conclusions” about issues that should be decided by the judge or by the jury at trial.

Prosecutors argue that Shafer is using “incorrect, extrinsic facts and legal conclusions ... to somehow suggest that he was or may have been a lawful presidential elector at the time of the charged conduct.” They agreed that the indictment includes “disputed” and “unproven” allegations but said “that is not and never has been grounds for the dismissal of an indictment.”.....................

[liberalgunwilltravel]

2. No!

An attempted coup is not political speech.

[Novara]

3. It isn't about speech, it isn't words; it's actions

Not just trying to extort Raffensperger but arranging elector impostors to fraudulently steal an election, and not just over one or two days. This entire plan was in the works prior to the election and continued well after. IIRC, he was STILL trying to get Georgia to throw out ballots well after Biden was already sworn in.