Former President Donald Trump plans to mount a First Amendment defense in his Fulton County, Georgia, election subversion case, according to a new filing from his legal team on Monday.
As he seeks a second term in the White House, Trump is facing over 90 criminal charges stemming from four separate criminal indictments, two at the state level and two federal. A recent poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College found that a guilty verdict in any of the cases could have a major impact on his reelection chances, tipping voters in five key swing states to President Joe Biden.
Among his ongoing legal battles, Trump is facing Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act charges in Fulton County, accused of attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia, a key swing state that tipped to Biden by a slim margin, helping assure his victory. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has claimed that the case, as he has with all his other cases, is an effort to interfere with the 2024 election. Trump holds a substantial lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
On Monday, a filing from Trump's legal team revealed that the former president intends to argue that his false claims about election fraud in Georgia were protected as "core political speech" under the First Amendment.
"Here, the indictment's recitation of supposedly 'false' statements and facts, undisputed solely for purposes of a First Amendment-based general demurrer/motion to dismiss, show that the prosecution of President Trump is premised on content-based core political speech and expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment," the filing, written by Trump attorney Steven Sadow, reads.
Further along, the filing cites a passage from the 2012 Supreme Court decision in United States vs. Alvarez pertaining to the proper response to false speech, which argued that "the remedy for speech that is false is speech that is true."
"The remedy is not a state RICO prosecution against the former President of the United States," the filing concludes.
As noted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, attempting such a defense would likely mean Trump would "have to acknowledge his voting fraud claims were false," something he has consistently refused to do. Judge Scott McAfee has also dismissed similar First Amendment challenges from two other defendants in the case.
"Trump has few good defenses in Fulton County," Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, told Newsweek. "His First Amendment defense is a weak argument, but it may be the best he's got. Trump's right to free speech does not prevent consequences for that speech when it involves criminal conduct, such as allegedly attempting to circumvent the courts and pressure local government officials to overturn an election."
Along with Trump, the Fulton County indictment handed down criminal charges to 18 others accused of being involved in the efforts to overturn the state's election results. Among those charged, four have accepted a plea deal, which will likely mean they'll later testify against Trump, including his former legal team members Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis.
Updated 12/3/23, 5:05 p.m. ET: This article was updated with legal insight from Aronberg.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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