Donald Trump's Legal Team Fights to Drop Charges in Georgia Election Case

2023-09-12 04:49:36

Washington, Sep 11 (EFE).- The lawyers of former President of the United States, Donald Trump, asked a court in Georgia this Monday to drop most of the charges that the Republican faces for his alleged attempt to reverse the results of the elections. of 2020 in the southern state.

The former president’s representatives today presented several petitions before Judge Scott McAfee, in Fulton County, asking him to adopt the same legal arguments presented by two of the 18 Trump associates who also face charges for trying to alter the elections.

Specifically, Trump’s legal team asked to adopt in his case the same legal defense that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Kenneth Chesebro presented to argue that the charges be dropped.

Chesebro’s defense argued last week before Judge McAfee that the US Constitution prohibited states from criminalizing actions that fall under “federal authority.”

The former president’s lawyers assured in the document presented today that this same exception applies to several of the charges against Trump, including those of conspiracy.

There are 13 charges against the former president. The main one, violation of the state criminal association law (RICO), is known to be used against members of the mafia and used to ensure that the leaders of a criminal association, and not just their subordinates, , be accountable to justice.

This action by Trump’s legal team comes days after his lawyers notified Judge McAfee that they are considering asking that the case be moved from state to federal court.

His lawyers have a period of 30 days to make the request formal, which began on August 31, when Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Although Trump has four criminal charges against him, the one from Georgia is the one that most complicates the former president’s chances of getting out of jail since, being a state case, it would not allow him to pardon himself if he reaches prison again. power after the 2024 elections.

Under the US Constitution, a president cannot be pardoned in a state impeachment and, in the case of Georgia, neither could the governor pardon him.

If found guilty of all charges, the former Republican president could be sentenced to up to 76 and a half years in prison.

One of the main pieces of evidence against him is the recording of a call from January 2021 in which he asked the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” him 11,780 votes, one more than Democrat Joe Biden.