ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump will now face fewer charges in the Fulton County election interference case after a judge ruled to dismiss two counts, according to court documents.
Judge Scott McAfee decided Thursday to dismiss charges 15 and 27 because both both were "beyond the state jurisdiction and must be quashed," the ruling said. The two counts dismissed were related to conspiracy to commit filing false documents and filing false documents.
The first dismissed charge against Trump, count 15, accused him and several others of unlawfully conspiring to file a fake certificate of votes of the 2020 electors from Georgia. The certificate was later mailed to a federal judge.
That document was filed in Atlanta during the 2020 election, declaring that Trump had won the state of Georgia and 16 Republicans "signed" the document certifying the vote. Three of those 16 Republicans are facing charges in the case
Count 27, the second criminal charge quashed against Trump, accused the former president and his former attorney of filing a document in court that contained at least one false statement about improper votes from people who were dead, underage, convicted felons or not registered.
McAfee issued a similar ruling earlier this year dismissing three counts against the former president. Only eight charges that he was originally indicted on remain.
The charges dismissed earlier this year involved soliciting elected officials to violate their oaths of office. Two charges relate to Trump's phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021.
In a statement, Trump's attorney, Steve Sadow, wrote that "President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again."
In Thursday's ruling, McAfee also dismissed a third count, count 14, faced by three other co-defendants: David Shafer, Shawn Still and Cathy Latham.
McAfee wrote that punishing someone for filing certain documents with a federal court would “enable a state to constrict the scope of materials assessed by a federal court and impair the administration of justice in that tribunal to police its own proceedings.”
Trump and 18 others were indicted by a grand jury last August, accused of criminally interfering in the 2020 election in Georgia. Since then, the case has been filled with twists and turns -- even bringing to light a romantic relationship between the district attorney and the special prosecutor on the case.
Trump was initially facing 13 charges in the 41-count indictment against him and his co-defendants.; he still faces the most serious one, which is a Violation of the Racketeering and Influencing Act.
The case against the former president is currently in limbo until a verdict can made in an appeal the former president filed. Oral arguments will start on Dec. 5, keeping the trial from moving forward.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.