Fulton County, Ga. District Attorney Fani Willis, the Atlanta-area prosecutor who indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 others late Monday for an alleged conspiracy to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss in the state, is seeking a March 4, 2024, trial date, according to a proposed scheduling order filed with the court Wednesday. Willis' proposed date would have the trial beginning a day before Super Tuesday, "when the most delegates are at stake in the primary contest to decide the next Republican presidential nominee," The Associated Press reports.
The proposed date drew complaints of bias from conservative commentators in Trump's camp:
The state of Georgia has proposed March 4th for the start of the Trump trial. Timing significance? That’s the day before Super Tuesday. Its almost as if all of these charges are 100% designed to directly impact politics.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 16, 2023
One-time Trump legal adviser Tom Fitton cried of a "banana republic":
BANANA REPUBLIC: Dem prosecutor in Georgia wants her political trial of Trump and nearly 20 others to begin the day before Super Tuesday primaries! #ElectionInterference https://t.co/qJd853UoXR
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) August 16, 2023
There are 365 days in a year and Fani Willis just so happened to settle on THE DAY BEFORE SUPER TUESDAY for when she wants Donald Trump to be on trial in Georgia. https://t.co/sNMDDI39GL
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 16, 2023
Willis also requested that arraignments in the case occur the week of Sept. 5 for Trump and the other defendants, and proposed other deadlines for discovery and motions. She has already set a deadline of noon Aug. 25 for all of the defendants to surrender at the Fulton County jail. The suggested dates were selected "[i]n light of Defendant Donald Trump's other criminal and civil matters pending in the courts of our sister sovereigns," Willis writes in the filing, asserting that the proposed timeline would not conflict with the Republican party frontrunner's already scheduled hearings and trial dates.
Trump is slated to go to trial in March in his New York case accusing him of falsifying business records in connection to an alleged hush money payment to an adult film actor. His Florida, federal case — brought by special counsel Jack Smith regarding his retention of national security documents — is scheduled to stand trial in May, and Smith's team has requested a Jan. 2 trial date in Trump's other federal case regarding his efforts to overturn the election at large.
