Donald Trump pushes to block Georgia election probe before expected indictment

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a court to throw out evidence collected by a Georgia grand jury in the 2020 election interference case (Picture: AP)

Ex-President Donald Trump is seeking to quash a probe into his alleged 2020 election interference – weeks before he is expected to be indicted in yet another case.

Trump’s lawyers sought a court order on Friday that would throw out evidence collected by a grand jury in Atlanta, Georgia, and disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from investigating him.

His lawyers argue that allowing the probe to move forward would lead to ‘a violation of his fundamental constitutional rights’ as Trump ‘seeks his Party’s nomination for the Presidency of the United States’.

The investigation centers on whether Trump and his allies illegally interfered in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, where he lost by a small margin to Joe Biden. A special grand jury has been hearing evidence for about seven months and has already recommended indictments of more than a dozen individuals.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies are being investigated over alleged election interference in Georgia (Picture: AP)

Willis has signaled that final charging decisions may come as soon as August.

‘A regular Fulton County grand jury could return an indictment any day that will have been based on a report and predicate investigative process that were wholly without authority,’ wrote Trump’s lawyers in the filing with Georgia’s Supreme Court.

‘It is one thing to indict a ham sandwich. To indict the mustard-stained napkin that it once sat on is quite another.’

Trump’s attorneys filed a similar petition with the Fulton County Superior Court, out of an abundance of caution.

Ex-President Donald Trump’s lawyers argue that allowing the investigation to continue would lead to ‘a violation of his fundamental constitutional rights’ as he ‘seeks his Party’s nomination for the Presidency of the United States’ (Picture: )

The ex-president has already been indicted in two other cases. Earlier this month, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts in federal court for his alleged mishandling of classified documents. In April, he pleaded not guilty in the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into his role in a hush payment to a porn star.

And in May, a New York federal jury found Trump liable of sexually abusing and defaming writer E Jean Carroll and awarded her $5.5million in the civil case.

Trump’s legal troubles continue to mount as he remains the clear frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.

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