Trump, co-defendants seek dismissal of charges in Georgia election case

A Georgia judge on Thursday began hearing a defense motion seeking to dismiss election interference charges against former President Donald Trump because of alleged “misconduct” by the lead prosecutor.

Trump and several other co-defendants have asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis and dismiss the case following revelations that she had a romantic relationship with the man , whom he appointed to serve as the special prosecutor on the case, Nathan. Wade.

Trump alleged in a court filing that Willis and Wade had an “inappropriately intimate personal relationship” and that some of the $650,000 Wade was paid to work on the case was used to pay Willis money, including a Caribbean cruise. Was meant to take on “grand holidays”.

Willis acknowledged earlier this month that she had a “personal relationship” with Wade, but said it began after November 2021, when she was hired to work on the case, and that she took vacations. Had paid their respective share for.

McAfee has set aside two days for evidentiary hearings, in which both Willis and Wade may testify.

McAfee said, “The state has acknowledged that a relationship existed, and so what remains to be proven is the existence and extent of any financial gain, if there was any.”

Trump, 77, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is not attending the hearing.

He is in New York for a pre-trial hearing in a case in which he is accused of paying secret pre-election money to conceal extramarital affairs.

The misconduct allegations against Willis threaten to disrupt the Georgia case against Trump, who also faces federal charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the November 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

The case was scheduled to begin on March 4, but has been put on hold as the Supreme Court considers whether Trump should challenge a lower court’s ruling that he enjoys immunity from prosecution as a former president. Not there.

‘No money or personal financial gain’

Wade, who is going through a contentious divorce, said in an affidavit that he and Willis began a personal relationship in 2022 and that he “has received no money or personal financial benefit from my position as special prosecutor “

Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, where Biden won by about 12,000 votes.

Willis has asked for the trial of the former president and his 14 co-defendants to begin on August 5, three months before the November presidential election.

Four co-defendants, including three former Trump campaign lawyers, have already pleaded guilty to reduced charges in deals that kept them from jail.

Others convicted in Georgia include former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, John Eastman, a constitutional lawyer, and mid-level Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)