Trump's Georgia election subversion case faces key hearing

Donald Trump’s attorney argued Thursday that Fulton County prosecutors cannot prosecute the former president only on the basis that his allegations were “false.”

Prosecutors allege that what Trump said is “false in the eyes of the state” so it has “lost all protection to the First Amendment,” Steve Sadow said. But, Trump’s lawyer argued, comments that aren’t factually accurate are still protected under the First Amendment.

“What this court has to decide is the state’s position that fraud or false statements, under these circumstances … is that enough?” Sadow said of the charges.

“The mere fact that it’s false is all that they have,” Sadow said, adding that “there’s no allegation beyond the fact that those statements are made.”

Donald Trump’s attorney argued Thursday that the former president's statements about the 2020 presidential election in Georgia are “core political speech” and therefore he cannot be prosecuted. 

The attorney is arguing that the charges against Trump should be dropped because his actions alleged in the indictment were protected under the First Amendment.

“What do we have here?” Sadow asked. “We have election speech, which is 'protected' from government restriction."

During Thursday’s hearing on Donald Trump’s effort to dismiss the indictment against him in Georgia over alleged election interference on First Amendment grounds, prosecutors argued that it was premature to address free speech arguments.

Donald Wakeford, a prosecutor with the Fulton County district attorney’s office, argued that it was “premature to consider” First Amendment arguments and that such arguments should be put before a jury during trial. Wakeford added that all the communication from Trump in the indictment related to charges in the case are not protected by the First Amendment. 

Meanwhile, Trump’s attorney, Steve Sadow, has argued in a court filing that the charges should be dismissed because free speech in America expressly protects political speech.

“President Trump enjoys the same robust First Amendment rights as every other American,” Sadow wrote in his filing in December. “The indictment here does not merely criminalize conduct with an incidental impact on protected speech; instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity. For this reason, it is categorically invalid under the First Amendment.”

As the Fulton County hearing gets underway, here's a reminder of what the Georgia 2020 election case against Donald Trump is about:

An Atlanta-based grand jury on August 14, 2023, indicted Trump and 18 others on state charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. Four people have pleaded guilty. The historic indictment was the fourth criminal case that Trump is facing. The charges, brought in a sweeping investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, cover some of the most overt efforts by the former president and his allies to meddle in the 2020 presidential election.

Unlike the election subversion charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, Willis’ case will be insulated if Trump is reelected in 2024; he will not be able to pardon himself or his allies of any state law convictions, nor will he be able to order the state-level prosecutors to withdraw the charges. Trump pleaded not guilty via court filing, waiving an in-court appearance as allowed by Georgia law.

On March 13, 2024, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six of the 41 counts from the indictment, including three that applied to Trump. The partial dismissal does not mean that the entire indictment has been dismissed. McAfee’s partial dismissal left most of the sprawling racketeering indictment intact.

Read about the other three criminal cases against Trump.

The hearing in Fulton County over whether the charges in the Georgia election case against former President Donald Trump should be dismissed due to First Amendment protections has begun.

Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, Stephen Sadow, is expected to argue that the former president’s political speech is protected by the First Amendment, and therefore he cannot be criminally prosecuted.

The judge will also hear arguments over two additional motions to dismiss the charges from Trump’s codefendant, David Shafer. Shafer has argued that he was not part of a broader conspiracy but rather was “attempting to comply with the advice of legal counsel.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is not in the courtroom where other members of the prosecution team are assembled.

For the first time since a judge ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to oversee the Georgia 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump, the focus will return to the details of the sprawling case.

During a hearing this morning, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia is expected to argue that the indictment should be dismissed because the former president’s political speech is protected by the First Amendment. Trump is not expected to be in attendance for the hearing.

In a motion filed in late 2023, before the unsuccessful efforts by defendants to disqualify Willis from the case emerged, Trump attorney Steve Sadow argued that the peddling of conspiracy theories and claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election were at their core political speech, and therefore Trump never should have been indicted.

“Criminalizing President Trump’s speech and advocacy disputing the outcome of the election—while speech endorsing the election’s outcome is viewed as unimpeachable—is thus blatant viewpoint discrimination,” he added.

Willis recently told CNN she was ready to get the case back on track, after more than two months of disqualification hearings ensued over the romantic relationship she had with her lead prosecutor Nathan Wade. Judge Scott McAfee ruled Willis should not be disqualified from spearheading the case if Wade stepped aside, which he has.

Donald Trump is juggling a busy court and campaign schedule as he defends himself in several criminal cases while also vying for a second term in the White House.

The former president’s criminal hush money trial is expected to start on April 15. He faces charges stemming from his alleged falsification of business records with the intent to conceal illegal conduct connected to his 2016 presidential campaign.

By the time the Republican National Convention rolls around in mid-July, voters and Trump will already know the former president’s fate in at least one of his four criminal cases.

Here's a look at his colliding calendar:

Donald Trump is the first former president in US history to face criminal charges, and with his third presidential bid under way for 2024, the stakes are high for both him and the country.

Catch up on what you need to know about Trump’s four criminal cases ahead of today's hearing in the Georgia case:

Hush money case: Trump was first indicted in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney on state charges related to a hush-money payment to an adult-film star in 2016. Prosecutors allege Trump was a part of an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election. Further, they allege he was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including the $130,000 payment. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Classified documents: Trump was indicted in June 2023 by a federal grand jury in Miami for taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials. Both Trump and his aide Walt Nauta have pleaded not guilty. On July 27, the special counsel charged Trump with three new counts, including one additional count of willful retention of national defense information.

Election interference: Trump’s third indictment was a result of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into alleged efforts by the former president and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. The indictment alleges Trump and a co-conspirator "attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them ... to delay the certification" of the election. It also alleges another co-conspirator pushed then-Vice President Mike Pence to "violate the law" to delay President Joe Biden’s victory. Trump pleaded not guilty to all four counts.

Fulton County case: An Atlanta-based grand jury on August 14, 2023, indicted Trump and 18 others on state charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. Four people have pleaded guilty. The charges, brought in a sweeping investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, cover some of the most overt efforts by the former president and his allies to meddle in the 2020 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty. On March 13, 2024, a judge dismissed six of the 41 counts from the indictment, including three that applied to Trump.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told House Republicans that her office would turn over subpoenaed documents as they are able, but that she would not divert resources from her office’s “primary purpose” to prosecute crime, according to a letter obtained by CNN. 

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, complained earlier this month that Willis’ office had failed to adequately respond to the committee’s subpoena issued in February.

“This office is in the process of producing relevant documents to you on a rolling basis,” Willis said in her March 25 letter to Jordan, writing that her office had already shared “substantial information” requested by House Republicans but that his “extensive document demands” in less than two months were unreasonable.

Jordan had threatened to hold Willis in contempt of Congress for not fully complying with the subpoena for documents as part of the committee’s investigation into her office’s use of federal funds. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have long sought to undermine the credibility of Willis’s 2020 election case against former President Donald Trump and multiple co-defendants.