Trump lawyers again urge to block probe into Georgia 2020 election

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ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys continued a last-minute effort to block an Atlanta-area investigation into whether he and his allies broke the law in attempting to ameliorate Trump’s 2020 election defeat in Georgia — a motion now being decided by a judge based outside of Fulton County.

In an order issued Thursday but released Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville denied the entire Fulton County Judiciary to hear Trump’s request, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) and bar her office from further investigations into Trump. The motion also calls for the destruction of evidence and a final report prepared by a special grand jury that examined the case.

Glanville, the chief justice of the Fulton County Superior Court, referred the case to the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Georgia “for the appointment of a judge who is not a member of the district appointed to hear the case.” That court, based in Cartersville, Georgia , oversees 14 counties in Northwest Georgia — although the order suggests future hearings could still be held in Atlanta.

The order came as Trump’s attorneys filed an amended motion to disqualify Willis and overturn the grand jury’s special motions — a 650-page filing that partially accused Willis of “raising funds for her re-election campaign based on this case.” “.

Trump’s attorneys have accused Willis, who is seeking a second term as district attorney in the 2024 election, of retweeting “requests for followers and campaign contributions related to her pursuit of this investigation.” They cite the influx of donors from outside Georgia to their re-election campaign, claiming that fundraising violates professional ethics and should exclude them from the process.

A spokesman for Willis declined to comment on the Glanville order and the recent Trump request.

The legal maneuver comes four days after the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously denied Trump’s motion to disqualify Willis (D) and her office and overturn the Special Grand Jury’s findings.

Trump’s attorneys also unsuccessfully petitioned the Supreme Court to stay all criminal proceedings in the case — a request made just weeks before Willis’ impeachment rulings on the matter are expected to be announced. But the nine-judge panel quickly dismissed Trump’s request, stating that Trump had failed to demonstrate the “extraordinary circumstances” that would justify their intervention.

Trump’s Georgia-based legal team — Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg and Jennifer Little — also filed a nearly identical petition in the Fulton County Superior Court last week to block Willis’ investigation — the case now before a judge outside of Fulton County is negotiated.

The legal back-and-forth comes months after Trump’s attorneys first attempted to remove Willis and her team from the case, saying their public statements about the investigation violated Trump’s constitutional rights.

That March motion was pending with Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, whom Trump’s attorneys also wanted removed from the case. They cited his oversight of the special grand jury, which they say was conducted “under an unconstitutional statute” and “by an illegal and unconstitutional process” that violated Trump’s due process rights.

Trump’s lawyers have questioned why McBurney has not yet ruled on his March application and have questioned his role in leading the setting up of two criminal grand juries that were sworn in last week – one of which is likely to hear the case of the Election interference 2020 will negotiate.

Ahead of the public jury selection, McBurney told reporters that he had volunteered to stand in for the presiding judge, who was scheduled for this week but is on leave.

But Trump’s attorneys have criticized McBurney’s role in filling the new grand juries, noting that he “voluntarily agreed to do so, knowing full well” that he had not yet made a decision on Trump’s previous bid to grant Willis and her team disqualify and block the grand jury report.

“Between the District Attorney’s conduct of the case and the inaction of the supervising judge, [Trump] is at the mercy of state actors who have so far failed to respect his rights — even his right to have his application heard and decided,” Trump’s legal team wrote in the filing last week.

Willis has hinted she could face charges in the coming weeks. In April, she said in a letter to local law enforcement and other officials that she intended to announce her indictment decision between July 11 and September 1, dates that coincided with the summer semester of Fulton County’s final grand juries.

Willis appeared to narrow that window of opportunity further in another letter to Fulton County officials, announcing that a majority of her staff would work at least four between July 31 and August 18 — dates that coincide with grand jury work days of the week and asked not to be present. A trial against individuals in the district court will be scheduled during this period.

In their latest filing, dated Wednesday but released Friday, Trump’s attorneys referenced Willis’s public schedule and urged that her petition be heard under court rules that allow “emergency filings.”

“The applicant cannot stand by while a prosecutor with a disqualifying vested interest uses unconstitutionally obtained evidence to ultimately drag him into a courtroom,” Trump’s motion states.

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