Trump judge throws out six charges in Georgia election interference case

The former president is expected to argue, at least in part, that he can’t be held responsible for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to an adult film star because he was acting on the advice of his lawyers.

But the notice from his attorneys on Tuesday claims that Mr Trump won’t make a “formal” use of what is typically called an “advice-of-counsel” defence.

Amelia Neath has the story…

Katie Hawkinson reports from Capitol Hill:

The Republican House majority will become even thinner next week as Representative Ken Buck departs several months before his final term comes to an end.

In an unexpected Tuesday evening announcement, Mr Buck — a Republican from Colorado — said he would leave Congress next Friday, rather than retiring at the end of his term as originally planned. Afterwards, Republicans will hold just 218 seats out of 435 in the House, leaving Democrats one step closer to clinching the majority.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York and member of the progressive Squad, told The Independent her party must take advantage of Mr Buck’s early departure.

While both Mr Trump and Mr Biden are campaigning as though they are the official nominee for each party, it technically does not become official until the conventions.

Donald Trump has notified the judge overseeing his imminent criminal trial in New York City that he intends to rely on a legal strategy that pins responsibility for allegedly criminal acts on the advice of his attorneys.

The former president is expected to argue, at least in part, that he can’t be held responsible for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to an adult film star because he was acting on the advice of his lawyers.

But the notice from his attorneys on Tuesday claims that Mr Trump won’t make a “formal” use of what is typically called an “advice-of-counsel” defence.

In the years since Donald Trump took over the Republican Party, elected officials have almost never crossed him. The cost of doing so has always been too high.

They didn’t cross him when he broke GOP orthodoxy on free trade. They elected not to buck him when transcript of a phone call revealed he wanted to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dig up dirt on Joe Biden. Many still voted to object to the election results after Capitol riot. And just last month, they torpedoed a bill that swapped restrictions on immigration for aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

But on Wednesday, Republicans found a line they were willing to cross with the once and potentially future president: TikTok.

Amelia Neath has the story:

Donald Trump has notified the judge overseeing his imminent criminal trial in New York City that he intends to rely on a legal strategy that pins responsibility for allegedly criminal acts on the advice of his attorneys.

The former president is expected to argue, at least in part, that he can’t be held responsible for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to an adult film star because he was acting on the advice of his lawyers.

But the notice from his attorneys on Tuesday claims that Mr Trump won’t make a “formal” use of what is typically called an “advice-of-counsel” defence.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia has dismissed several charges against the former president and five of his co-defendants but has stressed that his decision “does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee did not throw out the racketeering charges facing all defendants in the sweeping election interference case and has refused to throw out certain “overt acts” in the indictment against them.

The judge dismissed three charges against Mr Trump stemming from an alleged pressure campaign to solicit state officials to violate their oaths of office and subvert Georgia’s election results to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss.

He wrote on Wednesday that Chubb’s participation “has nothing to do with the underlying merits or with favouring any of the parties in the case”.

Mr Greenburg said the bond if “fully collateralized” though did not reveal which assets are being used as collateral.

“As the surety, we don’t take sides, it would be wrong for us to do so and we are in no way supporting the defendant. We are supporting and are part of the justice system plumbing included in this case,” the letter said. “When Chubb issues an appeal bond, it isn’t making judgments about the claims, even when the claims involve alleged reprehensible conduct.”

“I fully realize how polarizing and emotional this case and the defendant are and how easy it would be for Chubb to just say no. However, we support the rule of law and our role in it. We considered this the right thing to do and we frankly left our own personal feelings aside.”

A further letter from the company also clarified that while Mr Greenburg was appointed to a trade advisory panel by the former president in 2018, he also served on the committee under President Joe Biden.

Chubb is a global provider of insurance products and is the largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company in the world.