Fulton County DA Fani Willis asks for March 4 trial date in Trump’s Georgia election interference case
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday asked a judge to set a March 4 trial date for former President Trump’s Georgia election interference case — the day before the pivotal Super Tuesday primaries.
The Atlanta prosecutor suggested the date in a new legal filing in the racketeering indictment of Trump and 18 co-defendants.
Willis also asked the judge to set an arraignment for all 19 defendants, including Trump, during the week of Sept. 5, following Labor Day.
The proposed trial date, which many analysts expect to be extraordinarily fast, would come in the middle of the Republican presidential primary fight in which Trump is currently the dominant frontrunner.
Super Tuesday, with primaries in 15 states including California, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Massachusetts, is set for Tuesday, March 5.
The proposed Atlanta trial date would come before Trump’s planned March 25 trial date in the New York case related to the Stormy Daniels hush money payments and a May 20 trial date in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
Special counsel Jack Smith has asked for a Jan. 2 trial date for Trump in the Jan. 6 case.
Trump has not responded yet to that proposed date but he has claimed he should not face any trial before the 2024 election, in which he hopes to win a second term in the White House.
The trial date filing came as Trump reportedly opened negotiations on the terms of his surrender to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office in Atlanta, CNN reported Wednesday..
Trump and 18 indicted co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering case have been given until Aug. 25 to turn themselves in or presumably face further law enforcement action.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has instructed the defendants to appear at the Rice Street jail in downtown Atlanta, which is open 24 hours a day.
He has vowed that Trump will receive no special treatment and will be fingerprinted and photographed like any other defendant.
But the Secret Service will likely be involved in any talks and might seek to streamline the process for Trump for security reasons.
Unlike the scenario in other cases, Trump and other defendants in the Georgia case will not be immediately arraigned and will appear before a judge at a later date.
The racketeering law that Trump and the others were charged with has an unusual requirement that defendants may only be freed pending trial if a judge rules there is “no significant risk” they would seek to intimidate witnesses or others connected to the case.
That will be a tricky bar for Trump to clear given his history of lashing out at witnesses, prosecutors and judges in virtually every criminal case and other disputes he has been involved in.
He wrote on social media that former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan “should not” appear before the grand jury on the day of his indictment, a warning that could be considered witness tampering.
Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s co-defendants, is also embroiled in a defamation lawsuit filed by Atlanta election workers whom he falsely accused of rigging votes for President Biden, a fact that could count against him when asking for bail.
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