The former president files several fresh motions to toss out Fulton County election interference charges

Attorneys for Donald Trump claim that the former president didn’t have “fair notice” that his attempts to reverse his Georgia loss in the 2020 presidential election could result in criminal charges against him.

A flurry of filings in Fulton County Superior Court on Monday argue that the sprawling election interference case against Mr Trump “consists entirely of core political speech at the zenith of First Amendment protections”.

Attorneys for the former president want the case dismissed on grounds that he has “presidential immunity” from actions while in office, that he was already acquitted for similar allegations in his second impeachment trial, and that he was never told that what he was doing in the state – where he is charged as part of an alleged racketeering scheme to unlawfully subvert the state’s election results – could be prosecuted.

  • @dhork@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    10711 months ago

    “Our country has a longstanding tradition of forceful political advocacy regarding widespread allegations of fraud and irregularities in a long list of presidential elections throughout our history, therefore, President Trump lacked fair notice that his advocacy in the instance of the 2020 presidential election could be criminalized,” according to his attorneys.

    Calling what he did “political advocacy” is a bit like calling what Jeffrey Dahmer did an “alternative diet”…

    • @paddirn@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      4211 months ago

      …lacked fair notice that his advocacy in the instance of the 2020 presidential election could be criminalized

      They’re trying to insinuate that it was only just made illegal after the fact, like he didn’t know that trying to commit election fraud was already a crime.

      • AlwaysNowNeverNotMe
        link
        fedilink
        1811 months ago

        It’s a roundabout way of acknowledging that it’s considered uncouth to charge rich people with their crimes.

    • @thefartographer@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      2311 months ago

      I swear they’re about to take the Hitler defense. Just say, “yeah! We did it! We tried to overthrow the government! But only because we looooooove this country so much… And sure, sure, y’all say we’re racist, but it’s clear you don’t understand just how racist we are. We are waaaaaay more racist than you can even conceive.”

      Then his idiot followers will talk about how he speaks the truth and says what’s on his mind and he’ll get locked up for, like, a year, during which time he’ll pen his horrible instruction manual on how to destroy our country.

    • Nougat
      link
      fedilink
      1811 months ago

      I’m pretty sure everyone in the federal government has had plenty of notice, since the US Constitution grants States the sole authority to operate elections.

    • Granite
      link
      fedilink
      1311 months ago

      I’m stealing this.

      What? No one warned me that stealing was illegal!