Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis poses for a photo in Atlanta, April 19, 2023.
Brian Anderson | AP
Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis on Wednesday proposed a March 4 trial date for her case accusing former President Donald Trump and others of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 Georgia election.
The court filing showed that Willis also proposed that Trump and the 18 other defendants in the statewide election interference case be tried during the week of Sept. 5.
The Atlanta District Attorney had earlier given the defendants until noon on August 25 to voluntarily turn themselves in to Georgia authorities.
Trump is likely to defy the timeline drawn up by Willis’ office. In other active criminal cases, Trump’s lawyers have called for trials to be postponed until after the 2024 presidential election.
So far, they haven’t succeeded. Trump’s criminal trial in New York, on charges of falsifying business records related to silent money payments, is set for March 25. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Florida has set a May 20 trial date in the case of special counsel Jack Smith who accuses Trump of mishandling confidentiality. records.
In a separate federal case accusing Trump of election-related crimes, Smith’s office has proposed that the trial begin Jan. 2.
“In light of Defendant Donald John Trump’s other criminal and civil cases pending in the sister dominion courts, the State of Georgia is proposing certain deadlines that do not conflict with hearings and trial dates already scheduled for these other courts,” Willis wrote in the filing Wednesday afternoon in Fulton County Superior Court. .
Trump responded angrily to those dates, claiming he was being targeted with bogus charges as part of a plot to undermine his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
He wrote last week in an angry social media post that the January 2nd trial date would come before the nation’s first-ever nominating contest in Iowa. mail. Trump’s claim that he is a victim of “election interference” – the same thing he is accused of in two separate criminal cases – featured prominently in his recent campaign message.
Although there is no evidence that prosecutors charge Trump with obstructing his re-election bid, his legal troubles are already looming over his campaign schedule and stretching a large budget. I can’t on his political operations.
Four days before the Georgia surrender deadline, Trump said he plans to lead a news conference at his golf club in New Jersey to reveal a “report” containing allegations of election fraud. Later in August, attorneys for Trump and prosecutors for Smith are scheduled to appear at a hearing on how classified information will be handled in a federal election case.
Despite Trump’s increasing focus on relaying his false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, he still dominates the 2024 Republican primary.
The most recent Quinnipiac University poll of the primary race found 57% support Trump among Republicans and GOP-leaning voters. His biggest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, saw his support diminish to just 18% from the same group.
This article originally appeared on www.cnbc.com
