Atlanta President-elect Donald Trump is urging a state appeals court in Georgia to dismiss the election meddling case against him, arguing that his claims are “underbaked” and “should be ignored.”
Beginning in August 2023, the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is continuing its case against Trump and over a dozen of his associates. Given Trump’s recent election victory and the immunity from prosecution that is frequently granted to sitting presidents, Trump’s lawyers contend that the case ought to be dismissed.
The prosecutors don’t agree with such stance.
Trump “does not make a specific request based on reasoned argument but expresses his preference that this Court independently perform extensive and novel legal analysis without guidance from the parties in order to arrive at a general result: the dismissal of all charges against him,” Willis’ office said in a filing with the Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday. The office characterized the president-elect’s request as “procedurally and legally inadequate.”
In a later brief on Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers refuted those descriptions, stating that Trump’s proposal “was intended to alert this Court to a jurisdictional issue and his legal position on how and when the issue should be addressed.”
Trump’s attorneys stated, “Contrary to the State’s response, it did not ‘demand’ this Court do anything.”
A request for comment on Wednesday’s court filings was not immediately answered by a Trump spokesman.
In an appeals court filing earlier this month, Trump’s attorneys argued that the 2020 election interference charges against him should be dropped because the State of Georgia’s ongoing indictment and prosecution of him is unconstitutional now that he is President-Elect and will soon be the 47th President of the United States.
They argued that a sitting president is immune from indictment and all state and federal criminal proceedings, and that the appeals court ought to order the lower court to dismiss the case well in advance of President Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
“While the courts’ understanding of presidential immunity continues to evolve, ‘president-elect immunity’ obviously does not exist,” the district attorney’s office stated, pointing out that Trump is not yet president.
According to the filing by chief senior assistant district attorney Donald Wakeford, the U.S. Constitution “places all the authority of the chief executive in the incumbent president, while a president-elect holds none.”
Additionally, because Trump’s claim that presidents are exempt from state prosecution is based mostly on a Justice Department memo rather than case law, it was refuted.
The filing mentioned Trump’s ongoing appeal of an order permitting Willis to continue working as prosecutor on the case despite accusations of conflict of interest. “Similarly, Appellant notes that the states may not ‘impede’ or ‘interfere’ with a sitting president’s ability to perform their duties but neglects to explain how this principle practically applies to the present case,” the filing stated.
The complaint also stated that Trump “does not specify or articulate how the appeal or indeed, any other aspect of this case will constitutionally impede or interfere with his duties once he assumes office.”
“In other words, Appellant has not done the work but would very much like for this Court to do so,” the paperwork stated.
Additionally, Wakeford resisted what he called a “familiar tactic” used by Trump’s legal team: the claim that the litigation is “politically motivated.”
“Prosecution in fact arose from his own actions as alleged in (his) indictment,” Wakeford wrote of Trump.
The case is “the result of two separate grand juries and years of investigation, and any suggestion it is motivated by ‘possible local prejudice’ remains utterly unfounded,” he added.
It’s unclear when the appeals court will rule on Trump’s effort to get the case against him dismissed.
Earlier this month, the court was supposed to hear arguments over Willis’ disqualification, but it unexpectedly and mysteriously canceled the hearing.
Trump and 18-co-defendants wereindicted on racketeering chargesin the case in August of last year, alleging they conspired to illegally overturn the 2020 election results in the state. Since then, a few of the defendants have entered guilty pleas. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Trump has also pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York, where he was convicted in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The judge in that case recentlyrejectedTrump’sbidto overturn his conviction on presidential immunity grounds.
Trump has another motion to dismiss that’s pending in the New York hush money case.
Charlie Gile reported from Atlanta, Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.
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