Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is asking for an Oct. 23 trial date for all of the 2020 election defendants. The consensus is that it's not happening.
Willis has claimed that she intends to try all of the defendants at once, but legal analysts said last week that the number likely wouldn't be all 19 defendants. As one explained, plea deals will be big among the group.
Commentator Bradley Moss speculated that the 18 defendants that aren't Donald Trump will likely make plea deals and cooperate with the district attorney when the indictments were handed down.
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As former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) explained of the October trial date, "No way in hell this is happening. This is as crazy as team Trump asking for a 2026 trial date."
National security analyst Marcy Wheeler agreed.
"I feel like this needs to be said," she said on social media Thursday. "The GA trial is not going to happen in October. Fani Willis doesn't set the trial schedule, and the judge is going to rightly say that's not enough time to prepare."
Former prosecutor Harry Litman said that the request for the early trial date will likely lead to "a number of defendants to file panicked responses." He also thinks the co-defendants will "suggest severing out Chesebro."
Former Department of Defense special counsel and Just Security editor-in-chief Ryan Goodman looked to Chesebro's request for a speedy trial on Nov. 3 as being a "risky gamble."
"Judge David Carter said of one of Chesebro's memos: It 'likely furthered the crimes' in federal case," cited Goodman.
Goodman also quoted Julian Sanchez expressing that Chesebro's request for an early trial date "may undercut Trump and others' claiming they need a super long time to prepare for trial."
Georgetown Law Professor Erica Hashimoto predicted that any request for a speedy trial would gum up the trial date for everyone.
"In Georgia, any defendant who requests a speedy trial, either in the term that they are indicted or in the next term, is entitled to have a trial within the term the request is made or in the following term," explained Hashimoto. "The Superior Court term for Fulton County begins every two months, beginning in the first week of January."
"Because this indictment was returned in August, if any of Trump’s codefendants file a speedy trial request before November 1, 2023, the trial would need to start before January 1, 2024, at the latest. If any of Trump’s co-defendants sought a speedy trial —particularly more minor alleged participants — that could give them strong grounds for a severance motion," she continued.
