Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Tuesday said that she believes the trial in the sprawling racketeering case against President Trump and 18 codefendants could potentially continue until early 2025.
Willis also called a video leak of witness proffers in the election subversion case against President Trump “disappointing” but not “surprising,” in an interview at a Washington Post global women’s summit.
EXCLUSIVE: ABC News has obtained video from Georgia prosecutors' interview with ex-Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, in which Ellis tells them she was personally informed by a top Trump adviser that Trump was "not going to leave" the White House — despite losing the 2020 election.… pic.twitter.com/J9c4bm9cbZ
— ABC News (@ABC) November 13, 2023
Big “reveal” by Sydney Powell 🙄😂
She just said that Trump has always believed he won the Election but was surrounded by a bunch of incompetent and backstabbing hacks who were giving him bad advice!
Not exactly new ground!🥱pic.twitter.com/On4eGSLBiY— 🇺🇸Kirk🇺🇸 (@Kirk_925) November 14, 2023
She added that prosecutors have since filed an emergency request for a protective seal.
From the Washington Post:
“I believe in that case there will be a trial. I believe the trial will take many months. And I don’t expect that we will conclude until the winter or the very early part of 2025,” Willis said.
The news comes as Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is beginning to consider scheduling issues in the sprawling Georgia case, a decision in which he will probably have to take into account Trump’s scheduled legal proceedings in other cases, including the separate federal election interference case led by special counsel Jack Smith.
Willis’s comments are likely to draw criticism from Trump, who has accused her and other prosecutors of attempting to disrupt his 2024 bid for the presidency. While Willis pointedly declined to comment on Trump and any of his co-defendants specifically, she said the election calendar plays no role in her decisions about any of the cases that her office pursues.
“I don’t, when making decisions about cases to bring, consider any election cycle or an election season. That does not go into the calculus. What goes into the calculus is: This is the law. These are the facts. And the facts show you violated the law. Then charges are brought,” Willis said.
Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Rudy Giuliani, a defendant in the case, said Willis’s prediction that a trial could stretch into 2025 proves that the case is politically motivated to thwart Trump’s re-election ambitions next year.
Willis’s appearance Tuesday came hours after she filed an emergency request asking a presiding judge to issue a protective order over discovery materials in the case to prevent leaks of potential evidence.
Willis denied that her office was behind the leak, which she described as not “surprising” but “disappointing.” She added, “I’m not happy that it was released.” She previously requested a protective order over discovery materials in the case, which includes “proffer” videos featuring statements of those who have pleaded guilty in the case. In a Tuesday court filing, Willis renewed that request “on an emergency basis” citing the leak of the recordings to the media.
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