Prosecutors propose March 2024 trial date in Trump Georgia case

[August 17, 2023]  By Jacqueline Thomsen
 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The district attorney prosecuting former U.S. President Donald Trump on election interference charges in Georgia has proposed that his trial start in March of next year, a date that would have Trump in court mid-campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. 

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks to the media after a Grand Jury brought back indictments against former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies in their attempt to overturn the state's 2020 election results, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. August 14, 2023. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage/File Photo

The proposed March 4 trial date is one day before Super Tuesday, during which voters in more than a dozen states are set to cast their ballots for the Republican presidential nomination.

Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, submitted her recommendation in a court filing on Wednesday, which also said that initial appearances for the various defendants charged in the Georgia election case should happen during the week of Sept. 5.

Lawyers and a spokesperson for Trump did not immediately return a request for comment.

A Fulton County grand jury on Tuesday indicted Trump and 18 others, accusing the former president of seeking to undo his 2020 election loss to U.S. President Joe Biden.

Trump is set to be on trial in New York on March 25, 2024, on separate charges of concealing a hush money payment to a porn star - a schedule that the former president is certain to raise in response to the recommended start date in Georgia.

Willis said in Wednesday's filing that the proposed schedule does "not conflict" with other hearings and trial dates set in Trump's other criminal cases.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in an interview with WNYC radio last month -- before Trump was indicted in two other cases, including Georgia -- that the various judges involved may "confer" about the schedules.

Trump's attorneys have argued in other criminal cases that any trial be scheduled until after the November 2024 presidential election.

He is set to go on trial in Florida in May on charges of retaining sensitive government documents after leaving office.

U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith's office has also asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to schedule a Jan. 2 trial start date on charges that Trump plotted to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump's attorneys face a Thursday deadline to propose their own trial date in that case.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Grant McCool and Alistair Bell)

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