Trump lawyers aim to dismiss his Fulton indictment. What that could mean for the other 14 defendants

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President-elect Donald Trump's lawyers requested the dismissal of his Fulton county charges.

Credit: Photos from Fulton County Sheriff’s Office

Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump filed a motion yesterday Wednesday to dismiss the charges in his Fulton County indictment for election interference. Fourteen other co-defendants could be impacted by the potential dismissal.

Trump lawyer Steve Sadow filed the dismissal saying the president-elect, who takes office next month, cannot be tried while he is a sitting U.S. president.

"The filing states that any ongoing criminal proceeding against a sitting president must be dismissed under the U.S. Constitution,"  he said in a statement posted to the social media site X. "The two federal criminal cases have already been dismissed by the DOJ."

Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said the dismissal request is not surprising, and it’s likely the Fulton case against Trump will either be dismissed or delayed until 2029. But, he said, a potential dismissal for Trump is not necessarily good news for the other co-defendants.

“Donald Trump gets to basically walk away from the Georgia proceedings for at least four years, if not forever," Kreis said. "But the case now against some of the co-defendants becomes a little bit stronger because Donald Trump is not part of that group of co-defendants at a single trial."

Kreis added that there is "no plausible claim that because Donald Trump was elected, that the other indicted co-conspirators would have to have their cases dismissed."

Trump would also not be able to pardon other co-defendants as president since these are state charges, not federal. 

"It's really not a kind of case which any of these indicted co-defendants will be able to wiggle their way out of easily," Kreis said. 

Read the full motion here.