Judge dismisses two charges facing Trump in Georgia election subversion case

() –– A judge on Thursday dismissed three charges in Georgia’s sweeping election subversion case, including two charges facing former President Donald Trump.

The decision has not yet been formally applied to Trump because his case is on hold pending appeals.

In a separate ruling, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee also upheld the racketeering charge in the case, which Trump also faces.

Trump lawyer Steve Sadow called the rulings a victory.

“President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have won once again,” Sadow said in a statement. “The trial court has decided that Counts 15 and 27 of the indictment should be vacated/dismissed.”

McAfee dismissed one count of filing false documents and one count of conspiracy to file false documents, both stemming from the Trump campaign’s efforts to submit a slate of fake Republican electors in Georgia. Trump was named only in the conspiracy charge.

In the ruling, McAfee also dismissed a separate charge of filing false documents, which Trump was accused of. That charge relates to false statements about alleged voter fraud that were included in one of Trump’s lawsuits in December 2020, that he was trying to deny the election results.

The rulings only took effect in the case of former Trump lawyer John Eastman and Georgia state senator Shawn Still, who were involved in the 2020 fake elector scheme. Their cases are not currently on hold. Trump was only named in two of the three charges McAfee dismissed Thursday.

McAfee’s awkward verdict comes as he has only partial jurisdiction over the 2020 election meddling case. Trump and most of his remaining co-defendants are seeking to have an appeals court disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from overseeing the case. Their cases are therefore on hold with McAfee presiding in a lower court. But two defendants, Eastman and Still, opted to move forward with their cases in the lower court rather than join the appeal over whether Willis should be the one to prosecute the case.

Willis, a Democrat, originally secured a 13-count indictment against Trump last summer, related to his multiple attempts to overturn his 2020 loss in the Peach State. McAfee already dismissed three of Trump’s charges in March.

Willis’ office declined to comment. McAfee’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.