Trump is charged in Georgia with 8 counts and 3 witness statements after judge strikes two of them

The case in Fulton County, Georgia, against Donald Trump and 14 others accused of participating in a conspiracy to embezzle votes in Georgia in 2020 remains pending. A federal appeals court is currently considering whether to uphold Judge Scott McAfee's ruling that District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to prosecute the case.

Trump was originally charged with 13 counts, up from 10 last spring to eight this week. McAfee ruled that the two recently dismissed counts, involving the filing of false documents, were federal.

Although the case is on hold pending a court decision, McAfee this week removed two counts from the original indictment against Trump, leaving the former president facing eight counts.

Staying the case until after the election is perhaps Trump's biggest victory to date – a decision from the appeals court is not expected until 2025 – but reducing the charges is also a success. (Trump's lawyers benefited here from the legal work of two other defendants, attorney John Eastman and state Senator Shawn Still, who filed the lawsuit.)

Judge McAfee allowed the RICO charge to stand at trial, but dismissed charges of filing false documents, ruling that they belong in federal court, not state court. https://t.co/IE2823km8G

– Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) 12 September 2024

Nevertheless, Trump must not only face the eight remaining charges, but also face three lawyers – Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro – and a bail bondsman who changed his mind before recess, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

[NOTE: Ellis seems to be holding a bag of bad trial news for Trump, if a trial ever occurs. She failed to do her due diligence, she said in pleading guilty, adding: “If I knew then what I know now. I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse.”]

The Fulton County case has a lot in common with the special investigator Michael B.s election interference case against Trump, although Smith's indictment does not include the alleged co-conspirators.

A key difference is that the case in Fulton County is outside federal jurisdiction and therefore remains an ongoing case that Trump cannot stop if he returns to the White House, where he could end the Justice Department's prosecution of him on multiple counts of alleged crimes.