Judge says no to dropping RICO charge against former Trump attorney

ATLANTA — A Fulton County judge denied one of Donald Trump’s former attorney’s requests to drop the racketeering charges against her.

Prosecutors consider Sidney Powell to be a key figure in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

But her attorneys said she had no role in whatever happened in Georgia, that’s why they asked the judge to dismiss the charges.

Thursday, the judge said no.

[SPECIAL SECTION: The Georgia Election Investigation]

Prosecutors say security camera video from the Coffee County elections office on January 7, 2021, shows an illegal break-in, and several people in the video are facing charges.

Who you don’t see is Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s former attorneys.

Prosecutors say Powell paid for the investigators – the ones, they insist, illegally downloaded data from the election machines.

“The request to get into those systems were not from Sidney Powell. That’s the first thing. The second thing is they were authorized,” Powell’s attorney Brian Rafferty told the court Thursday.

RELATED STORIES:

• Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell second to demand speedy trial
• Trump indictment in Georgia: Chesebro, Powell cases severed
• Trump indictment in Georgia: Sidney Powell, Trevian Kutti plead not guilty

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was inside the courtroom as Rafferty tried to convince Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that Powell didn’t pay for those investigators and that those investigators had written permission to be there.

He also insisted prosecutors knew that and withheld it from the grand jury that indicted Powell for racketeering.

“The grand jury testimony that was presented must have been false because ultimately, the evidence that they had showed she wasn’t involved in Coffee County,” Rafferty said.

Prosecutors fired back saying they hadn’t withheld any evidence…and that the issues they were bringing up were better suited for a jury…not the judge.

“We believe she was involved. We don’t believe there was a letter that granted any kind of lawful authorization,” the prosecution said.

The judge agreed.

“The allegations that we are withholding evidence, suppressing evidence and that we’re committing prosecutorial misconduct are outrageous. They’re not true,” Wooten said.

Powell will be tried alongside co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro, the man the January 6th Commission said was one of the architects of the false electors scheme.

That trial is scheduled for Oct. 23.

GALLERY:

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 23

Attorneys for Sidney Powell try to convince judge to drop RICO charge Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade listens during a hearing on motions from defendant Sidney Powell in front of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in Atlanta, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. Nineteen people, including former President Donald Trump, were indicted in August and accused of participating in a wide-ranging illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. (Erik S. Lesser/Pool Photo, via AP) (Erik S. Lesser/AP)

RELATED NEWS:

Trump won’t be tried with Powell and Chesebro next month in Georgia election case

©2023 Cox Media Group