Attorneys for former President Donald Trump submitted a legal filing in Fulton County Superior Court on Monday arguing the First Amendment protects Trump from prosecution for the statements he made during his contest of the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Trump’s attorneys, lead by Steve Sadow, wrote in the filing that Trump genuinely believes he won the 2020 election in Georgia, despite Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ repeated claims he “falsely” made statements to that effect.
Specifically, they note Willis claimed Trump spread “‘false statements and facts,” referencing Willis’ repeated objection to Trump’s claims that he won the election in Georgia. That those facts were unchallenged “solely for purposes of a First Amendment-based” attempt to throw out the case, the lawyers claim, means “the prosecution of President Trump is premised on content-based core political speech and expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.”
Sadow also referenced existing case law, in which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled “[t]he remedy for speech that is false is speech that is true,” which “is the ordinary course in a free society.” Trump’s lawyers conclude, “the remedy is not a state RICO prosecution against the former President of the United States.”
Trump’s attorneys seek to argue whether the First Amendment should compel McAfee to drop the charges levied by Willis, who previously ruled against similar requests from attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell before they both accepted plea deals in October.
The filing makes Trump the third defendant to reference Willis’ claims about the 2020 election in legal filings related to their defense.
Attorneys for Jeff Clark, who was a member of the Trump administration’s Department of Justice during the 2020 election contest, petitioned Judge Scott McAfee to end Willis’ “grotesque abuse” of power in a November 1 filing that noted her office “ritualistically” repeated the phrase “despite the fact that … Trump lost” 15 times in her August indictment. The lawyers wrote that Willis used the phrase “as if it were a sacerdotal refrain drawn from some ancient holy book if indisputable law and fact.”
Lawyers for former Black Voices for Trump director Harrison Floyd, who Willis accused of attempting to coerce a false confession from a Georgia election worker, went further, saying they plan to request state data to prove the 2020 election results were false in Fulton County and Georgia, and that Trump carried the state.
Willis requested in a filing last week for the case to begin on August 5, 2024, which would align with previous remarks she made to a group assembled at the headquarters of The Washington Post, indicating the trial will be ongoing on Election Day in 2024 and could continue until January 20, 2025.
However, co-defendant John Eastman, one of the election lawyers who advised Trump during his election challenge, has requested a different date in a legal filing that raised security concerns over the timing of the election for defendants who do not have personal security details.
Lawyers for Trump and other co-defendants are due to appear in court on Friday.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
