Georgia judges put Trump racketeering trial on hold while Fani Willis appeal advances
June 05, 2024
The Georgia election racketeering case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is officially on hold.
On Wednesday, the Georgia Court of Appeals issued a formal ruling that stays all trial proceedings for the time being, against both Trump and several of the other co-defendants who have not taken a plea deal.
Among those also facing an indefinite reprieve from trial until the matter is resolved, include former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Georgia GOP chief David Shafer, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, Trump ally and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and a variety of other GOP strategists and operatives.
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This comes after the appellate court agreed to revisit the ethics complaint against Willis, who was accused of improperly conducting the prosecution in order to personally enrich herself and Nathan Wade, a former special prosecutor on her team with which she was romantically involved.
Because of the timing of that appeal, this case is all but certain to be pushed to after the November election is held.
Trump was charged with four separate criminal cases. The first, for falsifying business records in Manhattan to conceal a hush money payoff to adult film star Stormy Daniels, has already been held, resulting in a conviction on all counts. Sentencing is scheduled to take place on July 11, which Trump is expected to appeal.
The other two cases are federal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith: the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, which is also on hold indefinitely, and the election conspiracy case in D.C., which will only proceed pending the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity, expected in the coming weeks, and may be complicated by their ruling to the point that holding it before the November election will also be prohibitively difficult.