At a hearing Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court, lawyers for former President Trump and his co-defendants argued to throw out a wide-ranging election interference lawsuit against him, citing First Amendment protections for political speech. argued that it should.
Judge Scott McAfee presided over the first hearing in Trump’s case Thursday morning since he ordered District Attorney Fani Willis to remove special counsel Nathan Wade from the case over Trump’s love life.
McAfee heard arguments related to the allegations by Trump and co-defendant David Schaefer, former Georgia Republican Party chairman, whose lawyers said he, along with other state Republicans, was involved in the 2020 He said he acted legally when he signed a certification claiming that Trump won the Georgia presidential election.
Steve Sadow, a former presidential lawyer and potential Republican candidate for the 2024 election, insisted on Thursday that there was “nothing against President Trump other than political speech.”
Georgia judge allows Trump and co-defendants to appeal Fani Willis disqualification decision
Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Court in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer, Getty Images)
Citing a dissenting opinion in a landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Alvarez, authored by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, Sadow said, “Even when there is broad scholarly agreement on a particular issue, By recognizing that, truth is fulfilled.” He is based on a consensus that he can raise objections without fear of retaliation. ”
“Today’s generally accepted conventional wisdom sometimes turns out to be wrong, and in situations like this even a false statement can be combined with a mistake to create a clear recognition of the truth. Because it makes a vivid impression, it may be seen as making a valuable contribution to public debate,” Sadow read out in his dissent.
“That’s the essence of what we have here. That’s the fact that is being asserted,” Sadow said.
Trump Georgia case: 5 key takeaways from judge’s order giving ultimatum to Da Fani Willis
Former President Trump speaks at the Buckeye Values PAC rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
“Essentially, the state’s position, as alleged, is that what President Trump said verbally or expressed through his words and deeds is still freedom of expression, and in the eyes of the state it is Because it is false, the state loses all protection of the First Amendment.” ” Sadow argued, adding that the Supreme Court justices “reached exactly the opposite conclusion” in response to the dissenting opinion.
“What we’ve heard here today is an attempt to rewrite the indictment and take out the inconvenient parts and just say, ‘Well, this is all speech, it’s all talk,'” the state’s attorney said. did.
“He’s just a guy who asked a question, and he tried to overturn the results of an election he didn’t win by violating the RICO law, by making false statements to the government, and by filing false documents. “He was not a party to an overarching criminal conspiracy to impersonate a police officer and engage in a host of other harmful activities in addition to the false statements used to carry them out,” the state said. the lawyer added.
Fani Willis says she’s the only US prosecutor with enough ‘courage’ to prosecute Trump
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is spearheading the wide-ranging 2020 election interference case against Trump. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Trump was indicted in August on Georgia’s RICO and other charges. Inciting violation of oath by a public official. Conspiracy to impersonate a public official. Conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree. Conspiracy to make false statements or statements. Conspiracy to submit false documents. Conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree. and submitting false documents.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In March, Judge McAfee threw out six of the charges against Trump and his co-defendants, saying the state did not allege sufficient detail on six counts of “inciting violation of oath by a public official.”
