Legal experts explain how Trump's dismissed charges could come back to haunt him
Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six of the charges in the election interference and racketeering case in Georgia on Wednesday. Still, he told prosecutors that the state could bring them back with the proper information but must do so in the next six months.
Georgia law professor Anthony Michael Kreis explained that it wouldn't be difficult for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to refile the charges to ensure they're not dismissed.
“All the state really needs to do is to form a coherent constitutional theory of why what Donald Trump was asking state officials to do was impermissible, in violation of their oath,” Kreis told Bloomberg.
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"I think Fani Willis was really trying to tap into a theme that what Trump and others were trying to do was upend constitutional order and violate the heart of our democracy," Kreis told NPR's "All Things Considered" Wednesday. "And so these charges spoke to that in a way that some of these other ones don't, and so I think she'll be loath to let this go."
It would, however, require a grand jury to be impaneled again, and Willis would need to make a constitutional argument for the charges. Those would likely include Georgia's voting rights or the equal protection clause in the U.S. Constitution, according to experts.
The dismissed charges involve soliciting public officials to violate their oath of office by asking them to throw the election for him. The judge said there wasn't sufficient evidence to continue with specific charges.
"She really just has to button up the constitutional theory that says, 'This is why, if Donald Trump got his way, the individuals who he was discussing overturning the election with would have violated the constitutions of the United States and of Georgia,'" Kreis told NPR.
Speaking to MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday, former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Harry Litman explained that if the charges were in federal court, it would be a lot easier to keep them in, but that Georgia has a different set of rules.
"Would [Willis] go into a grand jury and do it all over again?" he asked. "Big-time implications. My best guess: she'll just swallow and take the close of those six counts. And as you say, it doesn't really change anything else essential about the case, especially the R.I.C.O count. And even the conduct, the call to [Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger, it still comes in, just not as part of this charge, pushing them to violate their oaths."
John Heilemann went on to ask Litman if anything had changed in his mind about the Georgia case from the 30,000-foot level.
Litman explained he still believes it is a "solid case," however, there are always "two tracks" for Trump: "Merit and the timing." Trump has worked to delay all of the cases as much as possible. As a state case, however, Trump can't dismiss it if he is elected in 2024. "But he can put it on ice."
"My best guess is it won't go forward before November. It's still solid and dangerous for him and some of the other defendants, but, man, it's sprawling and it will take a long time," he said.
Watch the Litman explainer in the video below or at the link here.
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