Georgia Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Trump’s Bid to Shut Down Election Probe
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday rejected a motion by Donald Trump’s legal team by a vote of 9-0.
The former president’s attorneys sought to shut down an investigation being conducted by District Attorney Fani Willis, who is probing Trump’s actions in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, which Trump lost. In the weeks after that contest, Trump tried to lean on Republican state officials to overturn the election, which he falsely claimed was rigged. In a phone call, Trump asked even asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” him the number of votes he needed to win the state.
In a five-page ruling, the court said Trump’s attorneys did not show the “extraordinary circumstances” necessary for it to grant the motion. The court stated the Trump team’s direct appeal for it to intervene – as opposed to seeking relief in lower courts first – did not justify such a measure.
“Petitioner has not shown that this case presents one of those extremely rare circumstances in which this Court’s original jurisdiction should be invoked, and therefore, the petition is dismissed,” the judges wrote in an unsigned opinion.
The decision will come not exactly as a shock to legal experts, who panned the motion shortly after it was filed.
“Legally and procedurally, they’re not gonna win on this,” CNN chief legal analyst Elie Honig said on Friday. “The thing they are asking for here is not a thing, legally. There’s basically no way that a judge can prevent a grand jury from taking action [or] can stop a grand jury ahead of time from indicting.”
Trump’s actions related to the election are also being probed by Special Counsel Jack Smith at the Department of Justice. The former president has also been indicted by Smith over his retention of government documents after leaving the White House. Trump also faces state charges in New York for allegedly falsifying business records.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.
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