的律师唐纳德·特朗普称特朗普对2020年大选“提出质疑”的言论是“政治言论的巅峰”，旨在寻求罢免这位前总统的职位佐治亚州选举干预案星期四。
特朗普的律师回到富尔顿县法庭，他们辩称，对特朗普的选举干预指控应该被驳回，因为他与2020年大选有关的行为是“政治言论宣传，是第一修正案的核心。”
富尔顿县法官斯科特·麦卡菲结束了听证会，但没有对这些动议做出任何裁决。
“我认为毫无疑问，与竞选或选举有关的声明、评论、言论和表达行为一直处于受保护言论的顶点，”特朗普的律师萨多辩称。他说，即使特朗普的声明是虚假的，它们也作为对公共话语的宝贵贡献而受到保护。
“在该州看来，它变得不受保护的唯一原因是他们称之为虚假的，”萨多说。
但检察官唐纳德·韦克福德回击称，前总统的讲话是犯罪阴谋的一部分。
“这不仅仅是他一次又一次地撒谎，”韦克福德说。“他们中的每一个人都是有犯罪意图的犯罪活动的一部分。“
韦克福德认为特朗普是“犯罪组织”的一部分，他说他的言论不受第一修正案保护，因为他在用自己的话犯罪。
韦克福德说:“被告被拖进法庭并不是因为控方不喜欢他说的话。”“他不能做的是利用他的言论、表达和声明作为犯罪阴谋的一部分，违反佐治亚州的RICO(诈骗)法规，冒充公职人员提交虚假文件，并向政府做出虚假陈述。”
韦克福德还认为，特朗普提出的驳回动议为时过早，该动议未能形成驳回起诉的基础。
“我们今天在这里听到的是试图重写起诉书，删除不方便的部分，只说‘好吧，都是言论。’...他只是一个问问题的人。“所有这一切都是为了让法官大人不去关注一个基本事实，即这种言论、这种表达方式、所有这些活动都是犯罪行为模式的一部分。”
地方检察官办公室的诈骗法专家约翰·弗洛伊德认为，即使特朗普的选举言论可以被视为言论自由，但仍可能是犯罪阴谋的一部分。
“这是否符合第一修正案并不重要...这是一个RICO阴谋案件，”弗洛伊德说。“这可能是第一修正案保护的行为，也表明有一个阴谋在运作。“
与此同时，特朗普的共同被告、前佐治亚州共和党主席大卫·谢弗(David Shafer)的律师要求法院删除起诉书中的几个短语，包括“正式选举的合格总统选举人”、“合法选举人票”和“虚假选举人团票”。
谢弗的律师克雷格·吉伦认为，所谓的假选举人不能被定义为“公职人员”。
吉伦说:“仅仅因为他们被他们的政党提名并不意味着他们是公职人员。”“这个特定的计数是有缺陷的，因为根据佐治亚州的法律，这些选举人不能是公职人员。”
“根据法律，根据联邦法律，他们没有权力，”吉伦说。
地方检察官办公室的一名检察官辩称，“任何声称受政府授权行事的人”都是公职人员。
检察官说:“甚至不必是真正的公职人员，也不必是国家官员。“任何声称是受政府授权行事的人都是公职人员，这当然是总统选举人的职责。”
吉伦还试图将该团队的“假选举人”从起诉书中删除，他说:“他们希望在社区和陪审员的头脑中根深蒂固一个概念，如果你在12月14日不是民主党选举人...那你就是个假选举人。这是一个贬义词，对指控没有必要，应该取消。”
一名检察官回应说:“这份起诉书中不存在‘假选举人’这个词。”
在佐治亚州富尔顿县举行的听证会标志着自2004年以来该案当事人首次重返法庭取消资格失败起诉富尔顿县地方检察官法妮·威利斯。特朗普和该案的几名共同被告上周获得许可对该决定提出上诉.
特朗普本人没有出席诉讼。
去年8月，特朗普和其他18人在一次庭审中对所有指控拒不认罪敲诈勒索罪起诉涉嫌试图推翻佐治亚州2020年总统选举的结果。四名被告随后接受了认罪协议，以换取同意指证其他被告。
本月初，法官迈克菲驳回六项指控针对特朗普和他的共同被告，由于起诉书中的技术故障，要求一名公职人员宣誓。迈克菲下令周四的听证会考虑特朗普和谢弗的律师提出的三项与驳回起诉有关的动议。
特朗普的律师在他们的动议中辩称，第一修正案保护了前总统与2020年大选有关的行为，并使起诉书“绝对无效”。
萨多在听证会前的一份文件中辩称:“特朗普总统和其他所有美国人一样享有同样强大的第一修正案权利。”“此处的起诉不仅将附带影响受保护言论的行为定为犯罪;相反，它直接针对核心受保护的政治言论和活动。”
文件称:“针对特朗普总统的每一项指控和公开行为都基于政治言论和宣传的核心行为，这些行为是第一修正案的核心。”
Prosecutors say Trump team trying to 'rewrite indictment' in bid to dismiss Georgia election case
Attorneys forDonald Trumpsaid that Trump's comments "calling into question" the election of 2020 were "the height of political speech," in arguments seeking the dismissal of the former president'sGeorgia election interference caseThursday.
Trump's lawyers were back in a Fulton County courtroom, where they argued that the election interference charges against Trump should be dismissed because his actions related to the 2020 election were "political speech advocacy that lie at the heart of the First Amendment."
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ended the hearing without making any rulings on the motions.
"I don't think there's any question that statements, comment, speech, expressive conduct that deals with campaigning or elections has always been found to be at the zenith of protected speech," Trump attorney Sadow argued, saying that even if Trump's statements were false, they are protected as a valuable contribution to public discourse.
"The only reason it becomes unprotected in the State's opinion is because they call it false," Sadow said.
But prosecutor Donald Wakeford fired back, telling the court that the former president's speech was part of a conspiracy to commit crimes.
"It's not just that he lied over and over and over again," Wakeford said. "It is that each of those was employed as part of criminal activity with criminal intentions. "
Arguing that Trump was part of a "criminal organization," Wakeford said that his speech was not protected by the First Amendment because he was using his words to commit crimes.
"It's not that the defendant has been hauled into a courtroom because the prosecution doesn't like what he said," Wakeford said. "What he is not allowed to do is employ his speech and his expression and his statements as part of a criminal conspiracy, to violate Georgia's RICO [racketeering] statute, to impersonate public officers to file false documents, and to make false statements to the government."
Wakeford also argued that Trump's motion to dismiss was premature and that it failed to form a basis to dismiss the indictment.
"What we have heard here today is an attempt to rewrite the indictment to take out the parts that are inconvenient and only say, 'Well, it's all speech ... and he was just a guy asking questions,'" Wakeford said. "All of this is an effort to get Your Honor not to look at the basic fact that this speech, this expression, all this activity is employed as part of a pattern of criminal conduct."
John Floyd, an expert on racketeering laws with the DA's office, argued that Trump's election comments could still be part of a criminal conspiracy even if they could be considered free speech.
"It doesn't matter whether that's First Amendment conduct or not ... this is a RICO conspiracy case," Floyd said. "It could be First Amendment protected conduct that also shows there's a conspiracy in operation."
Attorneys for Trump co-defendant and former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer, meanwhile, asked the court to strike several phrases from the indictment, including "duly elected and qualified presidential electors," "lawful electoral votes" and "false Electoral College votes."
Shafer's attorney Craig Gillen argued that the so-called fake electors cannot be defined as "public officers."
"Just because the fact that they were nominated by their party doesn't make them a public official," Gillen said. "This particular count is flawed for the very purpose of these electors cannot be under Georgia law, public officers."
"By law, by federal law, they did not have the authority," Gillen said.
A prosecutor for the DA's office argued that "anything that purports to be someone acting by authority of the government" is a public officer.
"It doesn't even have to be a real public officer, it doesn't have to be a state officer," the prosecutor said. "Anything that purports to be someone acting by authority of the government is a public officer, and that's certainly what presidential electors do."
Gillen also sought to have the team "fake elector" removed from the indictment, saying, "They want to have ingrained in the minds of the community and of jurors a concept that if you are not Democratic elector on December the 14th ... then you are a fake elector. That is a pejorative term, not necessary for the charges, and should be stricken."
"The phrase fake elector does not exist in this indictment," a prosecutor responded.
The hearing in Fulton County, Georgia, marked the first time that the parties in the case returned to court since thefailed disqualification effortagainst Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Trump and several co-defendants in the case received permission last week toappeal that decision.
Trump himself did not attend the proceedings.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in asweeping racketeering indictmentfor alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
Earlier this month, Judge McAfeedismissed six of the countsagainst Trump and his co-defendants, for soliciting the oath of a public officer, due to a technical fault in the indictment. McAfee ordered Thursday's hearing to consider three motions from lawyers for Trump and Shafer related to the dismissal of the indictment.
In their motions, Trump's lawyers argued that the First Amendment protects the former president's conduct related to the 2020 election, and makes the indictment "categorically invalid."
"President Trump enjoys the same robust First Amendment rights as every other American," Sadow argued in a filing before the hearing. "The indictment here does not merely criminalize conduct with an incidental impact on protected speech; instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity."
"Every charge and overt act alleged against President Trump rests on core acts of political speech and advocacy that lie at the heart of the First Amendment," the filing said.
