Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis reportedly hopes to begin former President Donald Trump’s Georgia 2020 election meddling trial before Election Day, despite the possibility of being disqualified from the case.
Willis intends to proceed with the trial and is anticipated to ask the judge to begin it as early as this summer, according to CNN, citing three people familiar with Willis’ thinking. The district attorney had earlier requested an August 5 trial date, which is three months before Election Day.
While Willis has requested a trial in the coming months, Trump and his co-defendants are still seeking to have her removed from prosecuting the case against him, despite Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to allow Willis to remain on the case. On Wednesday, McAfee allowed Trump and seven other co-defendants to appeal his ruling.
Willis is facing claims that she unlawfully benefited from choosing special prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she allegedly had sexual involvement before hiring him.
Hearings into the case delayed the Georgia prosecution, with McAfee eventually determining that either Willis or Wade must stand down. Wade withdrew from the prosecution on the same day the decision was released, allowing Willis to continue on the case.
McAfee granted lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants a “certificate of immediate review,” but the appeal must still be heard by the Georgia Court of Appeals before it can proceed.
If the appeals court decides to take up the case, it could postpone the trial or even remove Willis from it.
Trump is also facing three further criminal indictments in New York, Florida, and Washington, DC. His criminal prosecution in Manhattan for alleged hush money payments appears to be the most likely to go to trial first, as trial dates for federal indictments in the nation’s capital and Florida are pending.