Legal expert says Fani Willis might have made a big mistake in Georgia Trump investigation
Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis announced in a letter on Monday to local law enforcement that a decision about indicting former President Donald Trump could come at any time between July and September — which could potentially put Trump in even more criminal jeopardy as he battles business fraud charges from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
But former federal prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Willis has already made things more difficult for herself by taking so long to reach a decision.
"This is another not so subtle indicator that the D.A. has every intention of seeking an indictment of Donald Trump," said Honig. "What she's done in the letter is put local law enforcement sheriffs and others on high alert. She tells them, I'm going to need you to be ready to respond to potential demonstrations, and maybe worse, starting on July 11th. And looking at this through a common sense lens, that makes no sense if she's not intending to indict Donald Trump, but it makes complete sense if she is."
That said, continued Honig, Willis has immensely complicated any potential prosecution of the former president, already a fraught prospect, by dragging this out until he is a candidate for office again.
"I think there is a very fair criticism of Fani Willis for taking this," said Honig. "Fani Willis became the D.A. on January 1st, 2021. The tape that we just heard of Donald Trump calling Brad Raffensperger, that happened next day and then became public within hours, and now we're looking at an indictment, if this timeline holds, at earliest two and a half plus years after the effect. I know investigations take time. This should not have taken two and a half plus years. And now as a result of that, Wolf, Donald Trump supporters are going to say, first of all, we didn't see an indictment for two and a half years until after Donald Trump, A) announced candidacy and, B) is emerging as a frontrunner."
Worse still, noted Honig, "They're not going to get to a trial until the middle of 2024 at the earliest if we see a charge this summer. There is discovery and appeals and motions, and is a state judge really going to hold a trial of a potential Republican frontrunner or nominee that close to an election? I'm not so sure. And I think Fani Willis bears responsibility for taking this long to do this."
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