Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis predicts the election interference case will likely extend into 2025.
Willis’ office brought charges against former President Donald Trump and 18 people involved in his 2020 presidential campaign in August. The defendants have been accused of running a “criminal enterprise” with the goal of keeping Trump in the White House after he lost the election. A trial date has not yet been set.
“I mean, I think the case will be on appeals for years,” said Willis while speaking at The Washington Post’s Global Women’s Summit on Nov. 14. “But, I believe in that case, there will be a trial. I believe the trial will take many months. And I don't expect that we will conclude until the winter or the very early part of 2025." .@FaniforDA on the election interference case, “I think the case will be on appeals for years. But, I believe in that case, there will be a trial. I believe the trial will take many months. And I don't expect that we will conclude until the winter or the very early part of 2025." pic.twitter.com/gnydZPbmym
— Washington Post Live (@PostLive) November 14, 2023
Previously, Willis requested the trial start in March. If granted, the proceedings would start amid the 2024 primaries.
“In light of Defendant Donald John Trump’s other criminal and civil matters pending in the courts of our sister sovereigns1, the State of Georgia proposes certain deadlines that do not conflict with these other courts’ already-scheduled hearings and trial dates,” she wrote in a document filed with the court on Aug. 16. “Further, the proposed dates are requested so as to allow the Defendants’ needs to review discovery and prepare for trial but also to protect the State of Georgia’s and the public’s interest in a prompt resolution of the charges for which the Defendants have been indicted.”
Willi’s office has accused Trump and his associates of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as committing false statements and writing, forgery, and conspiring to commit election fraud, and conspiring to defraud the state among other crimes.
The 41-page indictment was filed on Aug. 14 and the charges were approved by a grand jury in Atlanta.
“Other defendants include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who aided the then-president’s efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia,” reports AP News. “Other lawyers who advanced legally dubious ideas to overturn the results, including John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, were also charged.”
Powell, a former attorney for Trump, accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts on Oct. 19. She will avoid jail time and pay just under $9,000 in fines.
Cheseboro and another attorney, Jenna Ellis, have also pleaded guilty and will testify on behalf of the prosecution.
Willis launched her reelection fundraising website just days before the indictment was returned.
