Georgia prosecutors seek an August 2024 trial start for Trump's election case
Updated November 17, 2023 at 4:39 PM ET
Prosecutors in Georgia have proposed a start date of Aug. 5, 2024, for the remaining defendants in the 2020 election interference case, including former President Donald Trump.
That would be a few weeks after the Republican National Convention. Trump remains the frontrunner to be his party's presidential nominee next year.
And a monthslong trial beginning in August 2024 could stretch beyond the general election.
In a court filing Friday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wrote: "This proposed trial date balances potential delays from Defendant Trump's other criminal trials in sister sovereigns and the other Defendants' constitutional speedy trial rights."
Apart from the Georgia case, the former president faces six scheduled criminal and civil trials. That includes the ongoing civil business fraud case in New York.
The Georgia defendants will respond to the prosecutors' proposal, and then the Fulton County judge will set a trial date.
When asked about the trial schedule, Willis said at a Washington Post event earlier this week that she doesn't "expect that we will conclude until the winter or the very early part of 2025." That would mean the trial would run past the November 2024 election.
An August 2024 trial would also mark a year after indictments were handed up in the sweeping racketeering case stemming from a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Four defendants out of 19 have already pleaded guilty. Snippets of videos of those defendants were recently leaked to media outlets, leading the judge on Thursday to issue a limited protective order shielding evidence. [Copyright 2023 NPR]
