Judge in Trump's Ga. case quashes 2 of 10 remaining election interference counts

Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump 's election interference case in Georgia's state court on Thursday dismissed two more of the remaining counts against the 2024 Republican nominee.

In a decision that extends a recent streak of legal victories for Trump across several cases, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee quashed a pair of criminal counts leveled against him, reducing the number of charges now faces in Georgia from 10 to eight.

Trump originally faced 13 counts in broad-ranging indictment brought against him and 18 of his supporters in August 2023 by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, but McAfee likewise tossed out three of those in March.

Trump and the others were charged for allegedly trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

The proceedings have been on hold since June after the Georgia Court of Appeals ordered a pause as it considers an effort by Trump's attorneys to have Willis dismissed from the case for alleged misconduct. That decision likely delayed any criminal trial until after November's election.

In his 22-page decision , McAffe on Thursday upheld a motion brought by two of Trump's co-defendants, lawyer John Eastman and Georgia Republican State Sen. Shawn Still, seeking the dismissal of Counts 14, 15 and 27, which relate to an alleged effort to certify "fake" Electoral College electors falsely claiming Trump had won the state's vote.

Those counts are a federal matter and not under the state's jurisdiction, he ruled. Two of them, Counts 15 and 27, applied to the former president.

"Because Counts 14, 15 and 27 lie beyond this State's jurisdiction and must be quashed, the Defendants' motions to dismiss the indictment under the Supremacy Clause are granted in part," McAfee wrote.

"Punishment for filing certain documents would enable a state to constrict the scope of materials assessed by a federal court and impair the administration of justice in that tribunal," he added.

McAfee, however, rejected the defendants' pleas to have the entire case dismissed.

"President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again," Trump lawyer Steven Sadow said in a statement issued to media outlets .

The ruling comes as Trump has scored a string of legal victories in recent months. Last week, the judge overseeing his "hush money" criminal case in New York postponed his sentencing until after Election Day. It had previously been planned for Sept. 18. In that case, Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

On July 15, the federal judge in charge of Trump's prosecution from allegedly mishandling classified documents dismissed it on the grounds that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. Smith's team filed for an appeal last month.