The election meddling case against President-elect Donald Trump should proceed, and his request to have the criminal charges against him dismissed should be refused, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office stated in a court filing on Wednesday.
The strongly worded motion was in reaction to a filing earlier this month by Trump’s Atlanta lawyers, who contended that prosecuting someone poised to become the next President of the United States is unlawful.
It petitioned the Georgia Court of Appeals to rule that it no longer had jurisdiction in the matter. That also applies to Scott McAfee, the Superior Court judge who has presided over the matter, according to the brief.
Fulton prosecutor McDonald Wakeford responded on Wednesday, saying the appeals court should dismiss Trump’s request. He said the president-elect’s filing is “procedurally and legally inadequate” and contains “sweeping legal generalizations which are either misleading or oversimplified.”
According to Wakeford, Trump’s filing was not a motion. Instead, it was only a “notice” that provided “conclusory statements rather than reasoned argument.”
And, while the courts’ view of presidential protection evolves, “‘president-elect immunity’ obviously does not exist,” Wakeford stated. While a current president is granted executive authority under the United States Constitution, “a president-elect holds none.”
Trump’s lawyers highlighted a document written by the US Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which stated that the Constitution prohibits prosecutors from interfering with an elected president’s capacity to carry out his executive duties.
However, the Office of Legal Counsel’s views are not binding and only apply to federal charges, not state prosecutions, Wakeford stated. He also stated that the legal argument in Trump’s submission was “underbaked.”
In their filing, Trump’s lawyers did “not specify or articulate how the appeal—or indeed, any other aspect of this case—will constitutionally impede or interfere with his duties once he assumes office,” Wakeford said. “The notice makes mention of these concepts without actually examining them or applying them to the present circumstances.”
Trump’s legal representatives are “suggesting yet again (as he has in every case brought against him in every jurisdiction) that this prosecution is politically motivated,” Wakeford pointed out. “(Trump’s) prosecution in fact arose from his own actions.”
In a second court filing on Wednesday, Trump’s Atlanta attorneys stated that their intent was just “to alert this court to a jurisdictional issue and (Trump’s) legal position on how and when the issue should be addressed.”
However, the DA’s office “chose in its response to attack the notice itself and not the merits of President Trump’s position,” the lawyers stated.
The election interference case has been put on hold as the Georgia Court of Appeals considers whether Willis and her office should be removed from the 2020 election case.
Several defendants, including Trump, claim that the DA’s previous intimate involvement with Nathan Wade, the outside attorney she engaged to handle the case, constitutes a conflict of interest. They’ve also cited many statements she made to the media and in a fiery church speech early last year.
The three-judge panel hearing the case recently canceled oral arguments scheduled for early December without explanation. The court must rule by mid-March.
Whichever side loses is expected to file an appeal with the state Supreme Court, thus the question will most likely not be resolved until later in 2025.
Willis, who was just elected to a second four-year term, has stated that if she is allowed to continue working on the case, she intends to prosecute Trump. Many constitutional law academics predict that Willis’ case against Trump will be delayed while he is in office, despite the lack of precedence for state prosecutions of presidents (incoming or sitting).
Even if the DA is barred from prosecuting Trump until 2029, she may still proceed to pursue his 14 co-defendants, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and onetime personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.