Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys filed court papers Monday that marked his first attempt to get charges against him dismissed in the Georgia election interference case.
Lawyers for Trump filed several motions that adopted arguments previously put forth by some of his 18 co-defendants, who have been accused of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and other crimes amid alleged efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in the state.
In one instance, Trump's attorneys adopted a motion filed by lawyers for Kenneth Chesebro, who allegedly crafted the legal theory behind the so-called fake electors scheme. Chesebro last week asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to dismiss the case against him, arguing that the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause barred states from prosecuting or otherwise regulating conduct "that was entirely within the ambit of federal authority."
In adopting the motion to dismiss, Trump's lawyers said Chesebro’s constitutional argument applied to the racketeering and other conspiracy-related charges against Trump. It was one of two Trump filings Monday that pertained to Chesebro's earlier motions.
Attorneys for Trump took a similar approach Monday in adopting an earlier motion filed by former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani that would affect seven of the counts against Trump.
Trump faces 13 criminal counts in the sprawling 41-count indictment. All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Trump moved to dismiss days after his lawyers notified the court that he might try to move the case to federal court, an effort that has so far been unsuccessful for Trump's former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she aims to put all 19 defendants on trial next month. Chesebro and another former Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell, are scheduled to stand trial starting Oct. 23 because they requested speedy trials.
