In a court filing Thursday, lawyers for Donald Trump said they will not try to move his Georgia racketeering case to federal court. The move was unexpected since many thought Trump would try to invoke immunity protections for federal officials.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Tamar Hallerman, the move could have a significant impact on how the trial plays out going forward.
"While there’s still a chance that all or some of the 19 defendants are tried in federal court — five other defendants are awaiting decisions from U.S. District Court or the 11th Circuit Appeals Court — this makes it far likelier that Trump will be tried at the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta," Hallerman writes.
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Among the potential outcomes of Trump's decision cited by Hallerman include a higher likelihood of a televised trial -- "Fulton is the only one of the four jurisdictions in which Trump has been criminally indicted to allow for cameras." Another possibility would be the trial being presided over by a conservative judge who was appointed by Trump.
Trump could also find himself facing a "more skeptical jury pool."
"Trump won less than 27% of the vote in Fulton in 2020. In the 10-county Atlanta division from which Trump’s jury would have been pulled in federal court, the Republican won a little more than 33% of the vote," writes Hallerman.
Read the full analysis over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
