Fani Willis to request summer trial date for Trump: report
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will reportedly request a summer trial date for her election conspiracy case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.
Two sources familiar with Willis' decision told CNN she was expected to take the request to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.
"Multiple sources telling me that, look, Fani Willis is going to once again ask Judge Scott McAfee to set a trial date for Donald Trump and his remaining co-defendants in the Georgia case and set one for as soon as this summer," CNN's Zachary Cohen reported.
"This would be the second time Fani Willis has asked Judge McAfee to set a trial date."
Willis previously asked McAfee to set a date for Aug. 5.
"And it's, you know, this second request would, by all means, be a bold move from Fani Willis considering what we've been talking about for the last two months," Cohen explained. "We've been talking about allegations of an improper romantic relationship that Willis had with her special prosecutor."
Trump and his co-defendants had tried to have Willis removed from the case because of the romance with the prosecutor, Nathan Wade. Last week McAfee ruled that, while the relationship was improper, Willis could remain on the case but Wade would need to leave. He resigned shortly after.
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"What sources close to her even acknowledge was a major distraction in this case," he added. "But now that Willis has at least been told she could remain on the case by Judge McAfee, she thinks it's time now to push him to put a trial date on the calendar and we could see that come in the coming weeks."
However, CNN legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers doubted McAfee would agree to a summer trial.
"To me, 14 defendants, a RICO case, you'll have really lengthy jury selection processes," Rodgers noted. "It just doesn't seem to me, we're almost in April, that it's unlikely that this can be tried in the summer, especially because, as has been noted, the last two months, really nothing has happened while we've been absorbed with the disqualification motion."