Judge in Georgia election interference case quashes some charges against Trump

ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his allies has thrown out six criminal counts from the indictment.

Trump now faces 10 felony charges in Georgia, instead of 13.

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee agreed to grant motions from defendants in the case to quash six counts in the indictment, writing in an order Wednesday that: "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. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned's opinion, fatal."

Trump and the other 14 remaining co-defendants in the case still face charges of racketeering and other crimes. One defendant, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, now faces only a racketeering charge.

"As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited," McAfee wrote. "They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways."

Trump and the five other defendants on the order have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

McAfee quashed counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28 and 38 — all of which focus on alleged efforts by the defendants to solicit public officials, including the Georgia secretary of state and members of the Georgia House and Senate, to violate their oaths of office.

The indictment alleges that defendants pressured these officials to "unlawfully appoint