(1/3)Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at Ted Hendricks Stadium in Hialeah, Florida, U.S. November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Octavio Jones Acquire license rights
Nov 14 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia may not conclude until winter 2024 or early 2025 – during the final period before or perhaps even after the next elections – said the prosecutor in charge of the case. Tuesday.
“I think the trial will take several months and I don’t expect it to end until the winter or very early 2025,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said during a live event at the Washington Post.
Voters will begin voting in the fall for the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden.
Willis dismissed concerns about the campaign, saying it doesn’t “take into account an election cycle or an election season” when pursuing criminal charges.
The judge presiding over the case has not yet set a trial date and has previously indicated the case may need to be divided into separate trials.
Trump and 18 others were initially charged with racketeering and other crimes for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results in Georgia, where Biden narrowly beat Trump in 2020.
Four co-defendants, including three lawyers who worked for Trump or his 2020 campaign, have so far pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Trump and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Willis also called it “disappointing” that video clips of statements some co-defendants provided to prosecutors as part of their guilty pleas were leaked to the media.
In one clip, former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, who pleaded guilty last monthsaid a top Trump aide told him in December 2020 that “the boss” had no plans to leave the White House “under any circumstances,” according to media reports.
Willis filed an emergency motion Tuesday to prevent those involved in the case from making their evidence public. A court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
“I’m not happy that it came out,” Wills said of the footage.
Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles and Andrew Goudsward in Washington Editing by Nick Zieminski
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