There is a distinct reason why so many of former President Donald Trump's co-defendants in the Georgia election racketeering case are trying to either get their case removed to federal court, or expedite the trial to separate it out from the others, argued former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on CNN Thursday.
Specifically, he argued, it makes it more difficult for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to paint a unified picture of the evidence against them.
"When you sever something, the whole goal is distinguish your case from the co-defendants," said former federal prosecutor Laura Coates on the panel. "One reason might be, is because you might have inconsistent defenses. You don't want the stench of the person next to you to float over to this person in the jury or it might be there is some reason to believe you want a quicker trial date."
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"Now, in Georgia they're a little bit unique," Coates continued. "They have a speedy trial right which belongs to the defendant exclusively. For example, Fani couldn't say to them, look, you must do this for this point in time for reasons you raised, preparation. But if some do want that, you might have a scenario where the jury pool who might ultimately decide on the case for the latter defendants might have a preview unchecked by an attorney whose interest is to protect their client and individual defendant. So it's not necessarily a great thing if you're the other defendants to have your case go after. On the other hand, you get a preview of the strength of the prosecution's case."
"And that could be absolutely critical," said anchor Alex Marquardt. "That, Andrew McCabe, would be the strategy on the defense side. How would separating this case change the prosecution by DA Fani Willis?"
"She's made it clear from the start she wants all these defendants together, behind the same table or group of tables, in this case 19 people," said McCabe. "That's because she want to be able to put all the evidence they have against many different individuals together in the same pile. It creates a much more devastating view for all the defendants. It's easier to get a single jury to get people rounded up into one big group than it is to take your chances against a smaller group of people."
Watch the video below or at the link.
Andrew McCabe on Fani Willis case removal implicationswww.youtube.com
