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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis requested in a court filing to begin former President Donald Trump’s racketeering trial in August 2024, while noting that the proceedings will last through the November election and quite possibly into early 2025.
As reported by the Star News Network, Willis filed her request with Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, with the projected start date coinciding with what she told reporters last week at headquarters of The Washington Post, that the trial would be ongoing on Election Day.
In her filing, Willis asked that the judge set a trial date after a final plea hearing on June 21, 2024. Willis argued that the August trial date “balances potential delays” from the former president’s “other criminal trials” while still trying to accommodate the constitutional right of his co-defendants to a speedy trial.
The outlet added:
Additionally, Willis urged McAfee not to consider severing the case against any of the 15 remaining defendants from the greater indictment until after the final plea date. Prosecutors may have done this to preserve the August trial date, as McAfee’s previous order to sever the case against lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell from the greater indictment effectively meant that trial would be held before a trial against Trump could begin.
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Speaking at a Post-sponsored event last week, Willis said she anticipates that the trial “will take many months” and won’t “conclude until the winter” of 2024 “or the very early parts of 2025.” A Post reporter then clarified that the trial would be in progress on Nov. 5, 2024, which is election day, and could last beyond Jan. 20, 2025, which is Inauguration Day.
“McAfee previously set the first hearing date for the Trump case for December 1, when the court will hear arguments for a number of filings submitted by other defendants and adopted by Trump,” the Star News Network report continued.
“Filings submitted by Atlanta-based attorney Bob Cheeley will also be heard, marking the first time lawyers for either men will appear in McAfee’s court. It remains unclear whether Trump or Cheeley intend to appear personally,” it added.
Trump’s calendar for 2024 includes three upcoming trials. On March 4, the former president is set to face four charges linked to the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot following the federal investigation by special counsel Jack Smith. Additionally, Trump is confronted with 34 counts in New York pertaining to accusations of falsifying business records in relation to “hush money” paid to Stormy Daniels, with the trial scheduled for March 25, 2024.
In May, Trump is slated to commence his trial in Florida, where he faces allegations of unlawfully retaining classified documents after leaving office and obstructing federal efforts to recover them. Trump has entered a plea of not guilty to all charges across all four cases.
It remains uncertain whether any of the planned trials will need to be rescheduled to accommodate Willis’ potentially extensive case involving the former president. It’s also unclear if the Georgia trial’s commencement will be postponed until the conclusion of the other three legal proceedings or if it will proceed concurrently.
And, of course, the cases will produce another historic first: A leading presidential candidate and nominee who has been convicted of criminal activity in the run-up to the election.
Republican voters and other critics have ripped the Biden administration and both Democratic prosecutors in New York and Georgia, accusing them of targeting Trump for political purposes and to keep him off the ballot.
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“We are in completely new territory if a sitting president is convicted of crimes he committed before he was elected president, which will be the case here,” Eric J. Segall, professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law and a constitutional expert, previously told Newsweek.
“There’s nothing in the Constitution about this. There’s very little case law about this. We’ll have to see. There’s no way to predict how that would play out. No way,” he added.
