Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was captured in a portrait on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Atlanta.
Brynn Anderson | AP
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has proposed an innovative and efficient trial schedule for the case involving former President Donald Trump and 18 others accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. The trial date is suggested to be set on March 4, with arraignment scheduled for the week of September 5, according to a court filing.
Previously, Willis had given the defendants until noon on August 25 to voluntarily surrender to Georgia authorities.
However, Trump’s legal team is expected to challenge this timeline, as they have advocated for trial delays until after the 2024 presidential election in his other criminal cases. Nevertheless, these requests have not been successful so far. Trump’s criminal trial in New York, related to charges of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments, is scheduled for March 25. Additionally, a federal judge in Florida has set a May 20 trial date for special counsel Jack Smith’s case accusing Trump of mishandling classified records.
In another federal case involving election-related crimes, Smith’s office has proposed a trial start on January 2.
In the filing submitted on Wednesday afternoon in Fulton County Superior Court, Willis explained that the proposed timelines were carefully selected to avoid any conflicts with existing scheduled hearings and trial dates in other courts handling Trump’s ongoing criminal and civil matters:
“In light of Defendant Donald John Trump’s other criminal and civil matters pending in the courts of our sister sovereigns, the State of Georgia proposes certain deadlines that do not conflict with these other courts’ already-scheduled hearings and trial dates,” wrote Willis.
Trump vehemently opposes these dates, claiming that he is being unfairly targeted with baseless charges as part of a conspiracy to undermine his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. In a recent social media post, he expressed frustration that a trial beginning on January 2 would coincide with the first-in-the-nation nominating contests in Iowa. Trump’s claims of being a victim of “election interference” have become a central theme in his campaign messaging, despite the fact that he is facing accusations of the same in two separate criminal cases.
While there is no evidence to support the notion that prosecutors are charging Trump to hinder his reelection bid, his legal troubles undeniably cast a shadow over his campaign schedule and pose a significant financial strain on his political operation.
Just four days before his deadline to surrender in Georgia, Trump plans to lead a news conference at his golf club in New Jersey, where he intends to unveil a “report” containing allegations of election fraud. Later in August, a hearing is scheduled for Trump’s lawyers and Smith’s prosecutors to discuss the handling of classified information in the federal election case.
Despite Trump’s increasing focus on his unfounded claims of widespread election fraud from nearly three years ago, his 2024 campaign continues to dominate the Republican primary field. According to the latest poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, Trump enjoys 57% support among Republicans and GOP-leaning voters, while his primary opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has seen his support dwindle to a mere 18% from the same group.
