The Georgia prosecutor’s office has submitted a timeline for the course of the trial against Donald Trump. Accordingly, the actual start of the process should take place in March next year. The appointment is explosive.
Prosecutors have requested that the trial begin on March 4, 2024 following the indictment of former US President Donald Trump on election conspiracy charges in the state of Georgia. Chief Prosecutor Fani Willis submitted a proposal for the timing of further proceedings to the competent court in Georgia’s capital Atlanta on Wednesday. Accordingly, Trump and the 18 other defendants are due to appear in court for the first time in the week beginning September 5th.
Numerous other procedural steps follow – including deadlines for submitting certain applications – up to the start of the process, which is aimed for at the beginning of March. However, Trump’s lawyers are likely to insist on a later start of the process. The trial would begin a day before what is known as “Super Tuesday,” when numerous states vote on the candidates for the Republican presidential nominee. Trump is applying again for the candidacy and fears that a process could possibly affect his chances.
The submitted timeline for the trial has yet to be confirmed by a Georgia judge.
Trump was indicted on Monday in Atlanta on 13 counts for his attempts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. It was the fourth indictment against the ex-president and leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election – and the second indictment involving the 2020 election.
Prosecutor resorts to organized crime law
In her action against Trump, prosecutor Willis is using, among other things, a law that was originally intended to fight organized crime. Along with the ex-president, his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani are among those charged. The defendants have until Friday next week to appear in Georgia justice.
According to media reports, Trump’s lawyers and the prosecutor’s office in Atlanta discussed the relevant modalities on Wednesday. The sheriff of Fulton County, which includes large parts of Atlanta, said on Tuesday that the identification of the 19 defendants in the case would probably take place in the Atlanta county jail.
After the three previous charges against Trump in New York, Miami and Washington, the ex-president’s identification service and the first court hearing always took place on the same day. In Georgia, however, these dates will take place on different days.
Trump was charged in New York at the end of March in the affair over a hush money payment to the porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. In June, federal indictments followed over the classified documents affair that Trump took from the White House to his luxury Mar-a-Lago estate at the end of his term in early 2021. At the beginning of August, the 77-year-old was also accused by the federal judiciary of illegally influencing the outcome of the 2022 election.
Trump has denied the allegations of illegal electoral interference and described the investigation as politically motivated. The ex-president claims to this day that he only drew attention to election fraud in 2020 in favor of his rival Joe Biden – even though courts, authorities and experts have often rejected and refuted allegations of massive election fraud.
Trump has announced a press conference at his golf club in the state of New Jersey for Monday, at which he will present a report on alleged voter fraud in Georgia. The right-wing populist has said the report’s findings should lead to the charges against him being dropped in the southern state.
Trial of Donald Trump could be televised live
The Georgia trial could be particularly uncomfortable and dangerous for Trump. Among other things, the trial – unlike the other trials against the ex-president – could be broadcast live on television.
And while Trump could seek a self-pardon if convicted at the federal level if he wins the 2024 presidential election, a conviction in Georgia would not. The President’s fundamental right to pardons applies only to the federal judiciary, not to the state level.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
