Georgia judge drops six charges against Trump and co-defendants in election interference case

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia has dismissed several charges against the former president and five of his co-defendants but has stressed that his decision “does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee did not throw out theracketeering charges facing all defendants in the sweeping election interference case and has refused to throw out certain “overt acts” in the indictment against them.

The judge dismissed three charges against Mr Trump, including allegations that he pressured state lawmakers and Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss.

He also dismissed charges against defendants surrounding their efforts to solicit Georgia lawmakers to appoint fake electors to falsely certify Mr Trump’s victory.

Judge McAfee dismissed six charges altogether against Mr Trump, his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former attorney John Eastman, Georgia official Ray Stallings Smith III and attorney Bob Cheeley.

Those charges stem from the alleged pressure campaign from Mr Trump and his allies to solicit state officials to violate their oaths of office and subvert Georgia’s election results to overturn his loss.

“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr Trump said during that call.

“The Court’s concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance,” Judge McAfee wrote on Wednesday. “However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal.”

He argued that the charges “contain all the