Trump Lawyers Seek Dismissal of Georgia Case

Now that Donald Trump has won the election, his lawyers have asked an appeals court to dismiss the Georgia criminal case against him because a "sitting president is completely immune from indictment or any criminal process, state or federal." Prosecuting the 2020 election interference case would be unconstitutional, Wednesday's filing says, per NBC News. Trump originally faced 13 charges; the case shrank to eight counts in September. The Georgia case is the final criminal prosecution of Trump that has not yet reached trial, per the Washington Post.

Granting the Trump request probably wouldn't halt the prosecution of codefendants who include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. The case has been frozen for most of 2024 while Trump's team fights a ruling against it on disqualifying Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her staff on conflict of interest grounds, per NBC. Trump and 18 codefendants pleaded not guilty last year; four since have cut plea deals and agreed to testify. Wednesday's filing was much like one made to a Manhattan court to throw out Trump's convictions on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Sentencing in that case has been postponed pending the outcome of Judge Juan Merchan's decision. (More Georgia indictment stories.)