Does Georgia Court’s Latest Decision Mean Trump Could Be on Trial as President if He Wins?
On the Saturday before Election Day in 2016, Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton over then-FBI Director Jim Comey reopening his investigation into her emails, with the Republican nominee making the case that his Democratic opponent “should not be allowed to run.”
Now, five months before Election Day in 2024, Donald Trump is in the position he wrongly claimed Hillary Clinton was, only worse.
Clinton was not charged with any crimes, but the now-convicted felon ex-president is still facing two federal indictments, and a state RICO indictment in Georgia.
On Monday, a Georgia court of appeals announced it has set the date to hear oral arguments in the case that will decide if Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from prosecuting the case against Donald Trump.
The date the court set is October 4, one month before the November election.
“Three appeals court judges appointed by Republican governors will decide whether District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from Fulton County’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
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“Willis, who admitted to a prior romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help try the case against Trump, was allowed to remain as the prosecutor after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that she did not have to be removed. Willis’ removal from the case would have likely spelled an end to the prosecution,” NBC News adds.
“The possibility that the disqualification fight could stretch to October, as well as an ongoing question about how the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on presidential immunity could impact the prosecution, makes it extremely unlikely Trump will go on trial for election subversion in Georgia before Election Day,” CNN reports.
Citing the state’s constitution, the AJC reports, “the justices would need to rule before mid-March 2025. It’s possible the judges could agree to expedite the timeline, but most cases are decided roughly eight-and-a-half months after they’re first docketed, according to court observers.”
Should Donald Trump become president, it is widely expected his two federal indictments would be dropped by his Attorney General.
But not the state indictment.
Back in 2016, three days before Election Day, Trump told supporters at a Nevada rally if Clinton were to win the White House it would immediately create a “constitutional crisis,” he claimed, because she would be indicted and have to defend herself in an on going court case.
Now, should the Georgia Court of Appeals decide DA Willis can move forward with her prosecution of Trump, Democrats can make the exact same argument — adding on the fact that Trump has been indicted.
“Folks, folks, folks,” he told the crowd, “she shouldn’t be allowed to run.”
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“If she were to win this election, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis in that situation, we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately, a criminal trial,” Trump said nearly eight years ago, as Americans now face exactly that very same possible scenario.
“It would grind government to a halt, of course, that’s what we have right now under Obama anyway. We need a government that can work and work well from day one for the American people. That will be impossible. With Hillary Clinton, the prime suspect in a massive, far-reaching criminal investigation. Her current scandals and controversies will continue throughout her presidency and will make it virtually impossible for her to govern or lead our country.”
Watch Trump’s remarks from 2016 below.