Trump seeks to block Georgia election interference criminal charges

Former President Donald Trump in new court filings Monday sought to block him and various allies from potential prosecution for crimes related to his efforts to reverse his loss to President Joe Biden in Georgia's 2020 election.

Trump asked a judge to quash the report of a special grand jury in Atlanta, and to bar any evidence from that panel from being used to prosecute individuals.

His court filing also sought to disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, which has been conducting the criminal probe, from being involved in the case.

The grand jury earlier this year finished hearing testimony and reviewing evidence submitted by prosecutors. The panel then recommended the filing of criminal charges against a number of people, who have not been publicly identified.

The probe is focused on Trump's aggressive bid after Election Day 2020 to get Georgia election officials to toss out enough ballots cast for Biden to erase Biden's victory in the state.

Georgia was one of several swing states won by Biden in the popular vote, which gave him his margin of victory over Trump in the Electoral College, the entity that actually selects U.S. presidents.

Trump's 483-page court filing argues that the grand jury "was conducted under an unconstitutional statute, through an illegal and unconstitutional process."

The filing also notes recent comments to media outlets by the grand jury's forewoman, and later statements by other members of the panel, calling those statements evidence that "this grand jury was improperly supervised or, worse, improperly instructed from the outset."

And the filing claims that Fulton County DA Fani Willis "violated prosecutorial standards and acted with disregard for the gravity of the circumstances and the constitutional rights of those involved."

The filing comes as Trump is expected to be indicted by another grand jury in New York City in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump is a leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

A spokesman for Willis, and the attorneys who submitted Monday's filing for Trump, did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.

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