WASHINGTON — A judge in Georgia rejected former President Donald Trump’s push to block an investigation over his alleged efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results, according to a nine-page ruling filed Monday.
Trump’s legal team filed a motion in March to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from investigating or prosecuting Trump. They also sought to quash a report from a special grand jury that investigated him in the case and block any “state prosecuting agency” from using evidence gathered by the jury.
Judge Robert McBurney wrote that Trump couldn’t mount such a challenge.
“While being the subject (or even target) of a highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience, no court ever has held that that status alone provides a basis for the courts to interfere with or halt the investigation,” McBurney wrote.
The move comes after Georgia’s Supreme Court rejected a similar request from Trump to prevent officials from prosecuting him in the Fulton County investigation earlier this month. The ruling from the court at the time said Trump’s filing didn’t have “the facts or the law necessary to mandate Willis’s disqualification.”
A different judge will hear a similar motion from Trump’s legal team next week.
Willis said in an interview on Saturday she will announce decisions on charges against Trump by September 1.
“The work is accomplished,” Willis told CNN affiliate WXIA. “We’ve been working for 2 1/2 years. We’re ready to go.”
Contributing: Associated Press
