Judges in Georgia and Florida have rejected Trump’s bid to have the charges dropped.

Courts in the states of Georgia and Florida have rejected claims by former US President Donald Trump, in which he asked to drop charges against him of interfering in the 2020 election and illegally possessing secret documents. About it reports “Voice of America”.

Trump’s lawyers argued that the former president’s statements, which investigators say were made to illegally change the official results of the Georgia election, are covered by the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. But Georgia’s Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that the statements by Trump and 14 other defendants in the case were made “in furtherance of criminal activity” and are not protected by the First Amendment.

The lawsuit against Trump in Georgia was filed after the former head of the White House attempted to influence local officials. Trump lost to his rival Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Lawyers said they would challenge the judge’s decision to a higher court.

In Florida, Judge Eileen Cannon on Thursday rejected Trump’s argument that the case accusing the former president of illegally possessing classified documents should be thrown out on the grounds that the papers were his personal records and not government property.

Trump has argued that his storage of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in 2021 was authorized under a law that allows former presidents to keep personal records unrelated to their official duties.

Prosecutors in the case said the documents related to military and intelligence matters, including details of the U.S. nuclear program, and could not be construed as personal.

In total, Trump is charged in four cases, which relate, in particular, to payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, defamation of writer Jean Carroll, the attack on the Capitol in January 2021 and mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House. Trump, who is again running for the presidency of the United States from the Republican Party, considers all the accusations to be baseless and explains them for political reasons.

The first-ever trial of a sitting or former US president is scheduled to begin in New York on April 15.