And we have breaking news. The judge has dismissed some
of the charges against former President Trump in the Georgia
election interference case.
Let's bring in ABC News executive editorial producer John Santucci
for more.
John, what's the latest? So Diane,
this is a really interesting ruling from the judge.
So obviously we are still waiting for his ruling about
the efforts to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fonny Willis.
Now that is not what this ruling is about.
This is about some of the motions that Trump and
some of the Co defendants made to remove some of
the charges.
So in this ruling that our team is pouring over
right now,
Diane, we've learned the judge,
McAfee, has dismissed 6 counts of this indictment,
most of which has to do with efforts by Donald
Trump,
Giuliani, and a few of the other of the 19
defendants,
not all, just some to solicit
executives of the Georgia government.
So in one example here,
Count 5, which has been dismissed from this indictment,
our team writes that this was an effort for Donald
Trump to solicit the Speaker of the House of Georgia
to violate his oath of office,
to declare a special session,
and to appoint alternate electors.
Remember Diane? Of course, as we were covering this story
as it developed in real time time right after the
2020 election,
there were efforts by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani to
present alternate slates of electors.
Remember, these are the people that certified the votes for
each state.
Of course, in the state of Georgia,
it was certified that Joe Biden won.
But what? Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani and others,
including former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows,
were trying to do was to present an alternate slate,
an alternate team if you will,
that would certify the vote for Donald Trump and the
efforts by Trump.
Giuliani and Meadows were lobbying state officials.
Remember the phone calls that were made to Georgia Secretary
of State Brad Raffensberger and the governor,
others trying to push them saying,
you know, remember fellas, they only need
11,000 votes. That was a part of this very broad
Rico indictment brought by the Fulton County District Attorneys Office.
So now that the whole thing goes away,
but those are very significant charges that according to the
judge that no longer a part of this case as
of now,
Diane. So John, what does this mean for the case
against the former president?
So it means we're still going,
if you will, right. We haven't learned of any,
you know, case that's been dismissed.
It means that basically gets paired down.
Remember, this was a very big indictment.
This was over 100 pages that went through the actions
of all 19 and other unindicted Co conspirators that were
not indicted as part of the case.
So what it means is that we're still going,
but we're just not as wide of a lens.
It's getting a little narrow.
Now, obviously the question everybody is waiting on is what
happens to the DA because the hearings that we went
through over the last several weeks,
Diane, were the efforts to remove Fulton County District Attorney
Fonnie Willis and her deputy Nathan Wade.
That is not a part of Judge
Mcafee's ruling this morning. We do know the judge has
said both privately and publicly in a radio interview he
gave in just the last couple days,
he is going to stick to his self-imposed deadline of
two weeks.
That could mean right now until Friday,
we're in the hot zone for a ruling,
Diane. So John, what are the next steps here?
Well, the next steps really are going to be,
you know, does the DA's office try to bring these
six charges back again?
If there's still the DA's office on the case,
for the moment they are.
We haven't gotten a ruling there,
but do they try to resurrect these six charges and
they could try one more time,
the judge could dismiss it again and then it's game
over.
So there is a little bit wiggle room here.
I've spoken to attorneys for Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani
that are thrilled about this ruling so far from the
judge that this really impacts both of their clients really
with the efforts of of Rudy
Giuliani's. Remember Diane, You know the footage and video we
saw of Rudy going down and lobbying state officials soliciting
them to violate their oath of office.
This was a big part of these six counts that
have now been dismissed by the judge Diane and John.
An overall part of Donald
Trump's teams legal strategies across all all his cages cases
have been to delay,
delay, delay. So does this affect the timeline of this?
No, it doesn't. It's a great question.
So basically what it does is,
you know, think about the best way I compared think
about almost like you're planning a dinner party,
right? You're doing all your main courses,
your meals, your everything else.
It basically means we took the menu.
We cut a couple things off,
but we're still cooking. That's how I would compare this
to people,
right. We're still going to have dinner.
It's still going to get served,
if you will. It just means the options for the
DA's office of what they're going after.
Donald Trump and the other remaining Co defense.
Because remember, we were at 19.
Four have taken cooperation deals as part of their efforts
to not face jail time.
So for Donald Trump and the remaining defendants,
it just means there are less options.
All right. John Santucci making us all hungry.
Thanks, John. Thanks, Diane.