{"id":2213047,"date":"2024-04-04T13:56:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-denies-trumps-bid-to-dismiss-georgia-rico-case-on-free-speech-grounds\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T13:56:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:56:25","slug":"judge-denies-trumps-bid-to-dismiss-georgia-rico-case-on-free-speech-grounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-denies-trumps-bid-to-dismiss-georgia-rico-case-on-free-speech-grounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge rejects Trump\u2019s attempt to dismiss Georgia RICO case based on free speech arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-denies-trumps-bid-to-dismiss-georgia-rico-case-on-free-speech-grounds%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2213047&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Georgia judge denied Donald Trump&#8217;s request\u200c to dismiss his election interference case, citing violations of his First Amendment rights. The judge \u2063found that the allegations in the\u2064 indictment \u200cinvolved speech\u2063 not protected by \u200bthe Constitution, as they were linked to criminal activities. \u200dThe case, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani \u200dWillis, accuses Trump \u2062and 18 others of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A judge denied on Thursday <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washngtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s request to dismiss his election interference case in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/georgia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Georgia<\/a> on the grounds that it violated the former president\u2019s First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Scott McAfee issued an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/720071642\/Fulton-County-Order-on-First-Amendment?secret_password=9HyRlWXg2VCmzp7iGDkl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>order<\/a> saying that while Trump\u2019s free speech rights permitted him to raise challenges about the 2020 election, the allegations in the indictment reflected speech that was not protected by the Constitution because it was allegedly \u201cmade in furtherance\u201d of crimes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter interpreting the indictment\u2019s language liberally in favor of the State as required at this pretrial stage, the Court finds that the Defendants\u2019 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\u2019s jurisdiction which threaten to deceive and harm the government,\u201d McAfee wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Fulton County District Attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fani-willis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Fani Willis\">Fani Willis<\/a> indicted Trump and 18 others last year on racketeering charges, alleging that the defendants illegally conspired to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his attorneys <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2943380\/first-amendment-protects-trump-from-fani-williss-election-interference-charges-attorney-argues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>argued<\/a> at a hearing last week that the charges should be dropped because the actions cited in the indictment were shielded by constitutional protections of freedom of speech and expression.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question that statements, comments, speech, expressive conduct that deals with campaigning or elections has always been found to be at the zenith of protected speech,\u201d Trump\u2019s attorney Steve Sadow said at the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Sadow said in a statement in response to McAfee\u2019s decision that Trump \u201crespectfully\u201d disagreed with it, and he noted that the judge indicated in his order that the First Amendment challenge was premature and could be raised again during trial.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresident Trump and other defendants respectfully disagree with Judge McAfee\u2019s order and will continue to evaluate their options regarding the First Amendment challenges,\u201d Sadow said. \u201cIt is significant that the court\u2019s ruling was without prejudice, as it made clear that defendants were not foreclosed from again raising their \u2018as-applied challenges at the appropriate time after the establishment of a factual record.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McAfee\u2019s decision aligns with that of Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump\u2019s federal election interference case in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Chutkan ruled last year against the same First Amendment argument brought by Trump in that case, determining that the argument was better suited for a jury to consider at trial.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>McAfee has not yet scheduled a trial in the case in Georgia. The pretrial process was derailed by roughly two months beginning in January, when Trump and others called for McAfee to disqualify Willis from the case over an undisclosed relationship she had with one of the prosecutors working on it.<\/p>\n<p>McAfee determined that Willis displayed a \u201ctremendous lapse in judgment\u201d but said she could continue overseeing the case so long as she terminated the prosecutor.<\/p>\n<p>Trump and other co-defendants have appealed that decision, and the Georgia Court of Appeals is now weighing whether to take up the argument.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, Judge Scott McAfee dismissed Donald Trump&#8217;s plea to drop his Georgia election interference case, citing violations of the former president&#8217;s First Amendment rights. Trump&#8217;s free speech rights allow him to question the 2020 election, but the allegations in the indictment stand<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2213048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/MixCollage-15-Mar-2024-07-21-AM-7442-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/MixCollage-15-Mar-2024-07-21-AM-7442-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}