Attorneys for Donald Trump will be seeking to dismiss the Georgia election interference case against him because he is the newly elected president.
Trump and 14 co-defendants face a myriad of charges levied by Democrat Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis regarding alleged efforts to subvert the state's 2020 presidential election results, which Joe Biden won by 11,779 votes.
It was expected by some that Trump would try to put the trial off until after his term ends in January 2029, but it appears his legal team will try to toss the entire case, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday, citing a person with knowledge of the upcoming challenge who is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The legal argument is expected to focus on Department of Justice opinions that found a sitting president could not be indicted or brought to trial on federal criminal charges, with Trump's legal team arguing it should also apply to state criminal charges, the Journal-Constitution reported. Whether the legal motion will try to have the case dismissed while Trump is president-elect or after he is sworn in on Jan. 20 is unknown.
New York lawyer Nick Akerman told the Journal-Constitution the expected course of action is to try the cases against Trump's 14 co-defendants while he's president and put the case against him on hold until he leaves office.
Former federal prosecutor John Malcolm, who works for the conservative Heritage Foundation, told the Journal-Constitution he believes Trump has a good argument that he should not be forced to stand trial in Georgia while he is president.
"A state as a general matter cannot take any action that frustrates a federal official from performing his federal duties," he said. "Here you would have a state court and a state prosecutor taking action that would frustrate the ability of the president to do his job.
"Whether that would warrant a dismissal of the indictment or hold the indictment basically in limbo while he's president, that's a different story."
Akerman said he believes any attempt by Trump's attorneys to dismiss the case outright will not succeed.
"It's totally absurd," said Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor. "The federal and state systems are completely different. I don't see how in the world you can impute the federal policy to the state. That makes absolutely no sense."
Trump is facing eight felony counts in Georgia after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee tossed out a handful of the original 13 counts levied against him. The case has been on hold while the Georgia Court of Appeals considers a challenge to disqualify Willis because of her secret romantic relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade and the actions she took after the relationship became public.
The appeals court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the disqualification challenge Dec. 5, the Journal-Constitution reported.
If Trump's legal team wants to seek a dismissal soon, they will have to ask the appeals court to send the case back to McAfee either with instructions for him to dismiss the case or directing McAfee to decide the matter himself, the Journal-Constitution reported.
Trump's attorneys also could wait to try to have the case dismissed the moment Trump is sworn into office.