Former President Donald Trump is continuing to fight his election subversion charges in Georgia after a judge struck down his attempts to drop the indictment on First Amendment grounds.
In a court filing Monday afternoon, Trump, along with 13 of his co-defendants, motioned to appeal Judge Scott McAfee's ruling last week that denied the former president's effort to dismiss the case on claims that it violates the defendants' right to free speech. The document argues that appellate review of McAfee's ruling "is prudent," adding that the defendants "believe their arguments are well-founded and fall squarely within the almost absolute First Amendment protections in the context of their core political speech regarding the 2020 Presidential election contest."
Trump and his co-defendants face racketeering charges in Fulton County, accused of attempting to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 defeat of Trump in Georgia. The former president and remaining defendants in the case have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
"President Trump and the other unjustly accused defendants have jointly filed a motion requesting the Court to grant a certificate of immediate review of its Order denying their pretrial First Amendment challenges," Steve Sadow, Trump's lead defense attorney, said in a statement to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
"The motion powerfully expresses that the Indictment wrongfully criminalizes core political speech and expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment," Sadow added. "There is no democracy without robust and uninhibited freedom of expression. For these reasons among others, the Court's Order is ripe for pretrial appellate review."
Trump reiterated in his motion on Monday that he and the other defendants argue that their speech and actions included in the indictment, which was brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, are "core political speech related to the 2020 Presidential Election." The filing also challenges prosecutors for not specifying what "'criminal conduct' Defendants' speech advanced outside the context of advancing views on the 2020 Presidential election."
Newsweek reached out to Willis' office via email for comment Monday night.
McAfee wrote in his 14-page order last week that "free speech—including political speech—is not without restriction," and that speech excluded from First Amendment protections includes "speech integral to criminal conduct, fraud, or speech presenting an imminent threat that the Government can prevent."
The judge added that only a jury could determine whether Trump's speech was "carried out with criminal intent," as prosecutors charge.
Willis also filed a motion on Monday asking to block Trump's appeal last month of McAfee's ruling that allowed her office to remain on the case after she faced questions of conflict of interest for having a romantic relationship with the lawyer she hired to manage Trump's case, Nathan Wade. McAfee ruled that the district attorney could continue to lead the prosecution against Trump and his co-defendants as long as Wade stepped aside.
"There is simply no trial court error to be found in the decision to deny disqualification," Willis wrote.
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