Fani Willis predicts Trump’s Georgia trial could stretch into early 2025

by Nick Robertson - 11/14/23 3:48 PM ET

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks in the Fulton County Government Center during a news conference, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis estimated Tuesday that her sweeping racketeering case against former President Trump could take up to a year at trial, potentially ending in early 2025, after the next presidential election.

“I think the case will be on appeals for years. But, I believe in that case, there will be a trial,” Willis said at an event hosted by The Washington Post on Tuesday. “I believe the trial will take many months. And I don’t expect that we will conclude until the winter [of 2024] or the very early part of 2025.”

Willis’s case alleges that Trump, currently the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, and 18 co-defendants conspired to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia through a scheme of fake Electoral College votes.

Three of its co-defendants, former Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, reached plea deals with prosecutors last month. A fourth, bail bondsman Scott Hall, also agreed to a deal in September.

The trial does not yet have a set start date, but Willis previously stated that she’s aiming to begin in early March. However, Trump’s multiple other looming trials are also attempting to begin early next year, which could make that plan difficult.

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Trump faces 13 charges, from making false statements and writings to violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act — a charge rooted in combating organized crime.

He is also facing two counts of soliciting a public official to violate their oath of office, including over a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in which he asked him to “find 11,780 votes” to help Trump overtake President Biden’s vote total in the state.

Trump also faces criminal prosecutions in New York in connection with a hush money payment, in Florida over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstruction of justice and in Washington for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.