‘Not Happening’: Legal Analyst Says DA Willis’ Timetable to Put Trump on Trial Isn’t ‘Realistic’
Charlie Kirk Staff
08/17/2023

Several noted legal experts and former prosecutors are weighing in on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ stated desire to bring former President Donald Trump to trial within six months.
CNN’s Elie Honig said during a segment on the network Wednesday that the timetable is not even close to being realistic.
“There is no planet on which this case will be tried in March due to the logjam that we just saw,” he told CNN host Anderson Cooper.
He then explained.
“Now we see all of these four different indictments, and they’re all jockeying for very limited trial space, but the D.A. has asked to try this in March,” Honig said. “First of all, there is an ongoing racketeering trial right now that the D.A.’s office is handling in Georgia. They are still choosing a jury, they’re seven months in. I know that sounds unbelievable, but state jury selection is way slower than in federal cases.”
The legal analyst noted further: “So, even if they start in March, they’d still be picking a jury on election day, so that is not happening. I understand what the D.A. is doing, she’s doing what prosecutors are trained to do. You always say, ‘We are ready to go, any day; we want to try everyone all together,’ but March is not happening for this case.”
Michael J. Moore, a former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, agreed and said in addition to the unrealistic timetable, it is unlikely there will still be 19 defendants when the case finally does go to trial.
“There’s not a chance. There’ll be people who flip, who cooperate, plead out. There may be people she decides to get rid of because it complicates the case. I mean, there could be a number of reasons,” he said. “There won’t be 19 defendants sitting in the courtroom, and because there’s 19, that’s one of the reasons there’s no possible way that she’s gonna go to trial in March.”
“I mean, this is sort of a PR move, I think, on her part. I think it throws gas to Trump to say, ‘Look, why are they treating me different than every other criminal defendant in Fulton County? Why are they rushing my case?’” Moore added.
Jennifer Rodgers, also a former federal prosecutor, told CNN on Tuesday Willis won’t get her court date so soon.
“Back in 2022, just last year, she brought a case against a rapper and several others. What does that tell you about the timing of this case and how quickly or slowly it might be able to come to trial?” CNN anchor Sara Sidner asked.
“Fani Willis has a lot of experience with RICO throughout her prosecutorial career, so she knows what she’s doing in this regard. But going back to the Young Thug case, it’s still in jury selection. I mean months and months just in jury selection,” she said.
“Picking a jury for the former president and these other high-ranking former officials and lawyers and so on is going to be even more complicated than picking a jury for the Young Thung RICO case, so to me, that just underscores again that six months is an unrealistic goal to try this thing,” she said.