Three charges related to Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia dropped

ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - A Georgia judge has dropped three charges related to former President Donald Trump’s election interference case.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed two criminal counts against Trump related to the state’s 2020 case and another count related to his allies.

McAfee is allowing the remainder of the case to move forward.

“President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again,” said Steve Sadow, one of Trump’s Georgia attorneys. “The trial court has decided that counts 15 and 27 in the indictment must be quashed/dismissed.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office declined to immediately comment on McAfee’s ruling.

In August 2023, Willis indicted Trump and 17 of his GOP allies on charges they engaged in an organized crime-like conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. Four of the 18 originally indicted have already reached plea deals with Willis’ office.

But in early January 2024, a series of explosive allegations surfaced when Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants, and Ashleigh Merchant, Roman’s attorney, accused Willis and then-special prosecutor Nathan Wade of having an improper relationship. Both Willis and Wade have since acknowledged a romantic relationship.

The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade upended the case for weeks. Intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February.

In March, McAfee rejected defense efforts to remove Willis and her office over her romantic relationship with Wade. But he did give the defendants permission to seek a review of his decision from the appeals court. In his ruling, McAfee wrote Willis must remove Wade from the racketeering indictment if she were to remain on the case.

On April 1, Trump and several of his remaining co-defendants formally appealed McAfee’s ruling allowing Willis to remain on the case. That appeal came after McAfee gave the green light to allow such an appeal over his decision. The appeal was signed by all of the attorneys representing the remaining co-defendants who have not already settled the case in Fulton County Superior Court.

In August, Willis’ office filed a brief urging the appeals court to allow their case to move forward. The Brief of Appellee asked the court of appeals to agree with Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s earlier ruling that found no reason to disqualify Willis.