Former President Donald Trump’s demand to dismiss the RICO election interference case on the grounds that his actions were protected by the First Amendment was shot down by a Georgia judge on Thursday.
Judge Scott McAfee ruled that the sprawling case against Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants can go forward despite the claim that his effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election amounts to constitutionally defended speech.
“Even core political speech addressing matters of public concern is not impenetrable from prosecution if allegedly used to further criminal activity,” McAfee wrote in a 14-page ruling.
McAfee noted that he is required to assume the indictment accurately describes the defendants’ actions when deciding any pre-trial effort to dismiss the case.
The judge agreed with prosecutors that even normally protected speech can in some cases be used to carry out criminal conspiracies, especially when coupled with actions like Trump carried out.
“The defendants’ expressions and speech are alleged to have been made in furtherance of criminal activity,” McAfee said.
Trump’s defense lawyer Steve Sadow said he disagreed with the ruling but noted that it leaves the door open to raise the issue later if and when the case eventually goes to trial.
Trump is accused of engineering a sprawling plot to steal the 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere. The probe was launched after Trump’s shocking call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger demanding that he “find” just enough votes to let him beat President Biden.
The indictment also accuses Trump and his acolytes of bullying Atlanta election workers and ginning up slates of fake pro-Trump electors, among other actions designed to overturn his election defeat.
The ruling is similar to one made by federal District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan that rejected Trump’s effort to toss the election interference case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
McAfee has not yet set a date for a trial of Trump.
The former president faces three other possible criminal trials, including a New York trial set for April 15 on charges he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, a scheme that prosecutors say was hatched to help him win the 2016 presidential election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has asked for the trial to start in August. Trump has demanded that it be put off until after the November election when he hopes to win a return to the White House.
The Atlanta case was essentially put on hold for a couple of months while McAfee considered Trump’s effort to oust Willis over her affair with top lieutenant Nathan Wade. The judge allowed her to stay on the case, although Wade was forced to step aside.
