Former President Donald Trump suffered a pair of legal setbacks on Thursday (April 4), as his efforts to dismiss two of the criminal cases against him were denied.
A Fulton County judge denied his bid to dismiss the election subversion case against him on free speech grounds.
Trump argued that his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election were protected under the First Amendment.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee rejected Trump's argument writing, "The defense has not presented, nor is the Court able to find, any authority that the speech and conduct alleged is protected political speech."
"After interpreting the indictment's language liberally in favor of the State as required at this pretrial stage, the Court finds that the Defendants' expressions and speech are alleged to have been made in furtherance of criminal activity and constitute false statements knowingly and willfully made in matters within a government agency's jurisdiction which threaten to deceive and harm the government," McAfee continued.
"In other words, the law does not insulate speech allegedly made during fraudulent or criminal conduct from prosecution under the guise of petitioning the government," he wrote.
A few hours later, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon refused to dismiss the classified documents case after Trump's legal team argued he was within his authority to take the documents with him when he left the White House. However, she did leave open the possibility for Trump to use that argument during the trial.
There are still more than a dozen outstanding motions for Cannon to decide before the case can proceed.