Fulton County Judge Rejects Trump’s Motion to Halt 2020 Election Investigation
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On July 31, Judge Robert C.I. McBurney rejected a motion filed by former President Donald Trump and Cathleen Latham, an “alternate” presidential elector from Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, to “quash the Special Purpose Grand Jury’s Final Report, to preclude any State prosecuting agency from using any evidence derived from the Special Purpose Grand Jury’s work, and to disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from further investigation into/prosecution of alleged interference with the 2020 general election in Georgia.”
Judge McBurney dismissed Trump and Latham’s motion to halt the investigation and possible prosecution of Trump relating to “criminal interference” in Georgia’s 2020 general election for lack of standing, as “simply being the subject (or target) of an investigation does not yield standing to bring a claim to halt that investigation in court.” Judge McBurney also found Trump and Latham’s request to quash the special purpose grand jury’s final report because of due process concerns moot, because the specified portions of the report naming Trump and Latham that have not been released will “remain out of the public’s eye until the District Attorney’s final charging decision,” after which the Court will “revisit the question of releasing the remainder of the Final Report.” Finally, the judge denied Trump and Latham’s attempt to disqualify the district attorney’s office from further involvement in the investigation, citing a lack of evidence or contention that neither Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis nor her team meet either of the two primary grounds for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney: conflict of interest and forensic misconduct.
You can read the order here or below:
