Georgia judge rejects Trump’s efforts to toss evidence in Fulton County probe and disqualify district attorney

By Sara Murray and Jason Morris, CNN

(CNN) — A judge in Fulton County, Georgia, on Monday rejected efforts by Donald Trump’s legal team to toss evidence in the criminal investigation into the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and to disqualify the district attorney investigating him.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney also rejected efforts by Cathy Latham, who served as one of the GOP fake electors in Georgia, to join Trump’s push.

“Having reviewed the pleadings, the Court now finds that neither Trump nor Latham enjoys standing to mount a challenge – at this pre-indictment phase of the proceedings – to the continued investigation into and potential prosecution of possible criminal interference in the 2020 general election in Georgia,” the judge wrote in a nine-page order.

McBurney added that, “while being the subject (or even target) of a highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience, no court ever has held that that status alone provides a basis for the courts to interfere with or halt the investigation.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to present her 2020 election interference case to a grand jury by September 1. CNN previously reported that Willis is considering bringing racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

The former president’s legal team in Georgia had previously asked the court to throw out all the evidence from the special purpose grand jury investigation and disqualify Willis, citing concerns about the constitutionality of special grand juries in the state and criticizing public comments she has made about the case.

Trump’s team already raised their arguments before the Georgia Supreme Court, which dismissed Trump’s attempt to shut down the investigation.

“There will be a time and a forum in which Trump and Latham can raise their concerns about the constitutionality of the special purpose grand jury statutes, about the performance of this particular Special Purpose Grand Jury (and the judge supervising it), and about the propriety of allowing the Fulton County District Attorney to remain involved with whatever criminal prosecution – if any – results from the work of this Special Purpose Grand Jury,” McBurney wrote Monday. “That time is not now and that forum is not here.”

McBurney also rejected the Trump team’s arguments that Willis should be disqualified from overseeing the criminal investigation into Trump and his allies.

“The drumbeat from the District Attorney has been neither partisan (in the political sense) nor personal, in marked and refreshing contrast to the stream of personal invective flowing from one of the movants,” McBurney wrote, in an apparent swipe at the Trump team’s barbed filings regarding Willis.

He continued: “Put differently, the District Attorney’s Office has been doing a fairly routine – and legally unobjectionable – job of public relations in a case that is anything but routine.”

Trump’s team has also argued that McBurney should be removed from the case, in part because he had not yet ruled on their request to have Willis and the evidence she has collected tossed. A hearing on that matter is currently scheduled before another judge on August 10.

In his ruling, McBurney noted that his decision is coming within the allotted time frame for him to rule and said the effort to remove him from the case should be rendered moot.

Willis’ years-long probe includes allegations of solicitation of election fraud, making false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of an oath-of-office and involvement in election-related threats.

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