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A Georgia judge on Thursday denied a bid by former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the state election interference to dismiss the charges on First Amendment grounds.
In a 14-page ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said their right to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election did not protect them from the charges that District Attorney Fani Willis’s office brought.
The “Court finds these vital constitutional protections do not reach the actions and statements alleged by the State,” McAfee wrote, and their motions to dismiss are “therefore denied.”
Trump and his co-defendants, including his former lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, had argued the DA’s prosecution “violates the First Amendment’s protections of political speech and activity, freedom of association, and the right to petition Congress as-applied to their alleged conduct, and further contend that the indicted charges are overbroad.”
McAfee, however, found “the Defendants’ expressions and speech are alleged to have been made in furtherance of criminal activity and constitute false statements knowingly and willfully made in matters within a government agency’s jurisdiction which threaten to deceive and harm the government.”
Trump lawyer Steve Sadow said in a statement that “President Trump and other defendants respectfully disagree with Judge McAfee’s order and will continue to evaluate their options regarding the First Amendment challenges.”
Trump and 14 other defendants in the racketeering case have pleaded not guilty.
Natalie Obregon contributed.
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