Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has asked a judge to set a trial date of March 4, 2024, for Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants indicted on racketeering charges for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
According to CNN, the date would put Trump on trial a day before the Super Tuesday primary.
Willis also asked to schedule arraignments for the defendants for the week of Sept. 5. She also asked the judge to give defendants until 10 days after the arraignment to opt into “reciprocal discovery” by Sept. 29.
See the court documents below.
Willis has given Trump and the other defendants until Aug. 25 at noon to voluntarily surrender.
Meanwhile, one of the co-defendants – former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows – has filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to move the trial to a federal court.
According to the Washington Post, the “removal statute” allows “any officer of the United States” facing criminal prosecution in a state court to move the proceedings to federal court if the case relates to actions that were part of the individual’s duties as a U.S. official.
The Post said Trump and other federal co-defendants are expected to pursue similar legal motions.
If approved, it would allow the case to be heard before a potentially friendlier jury pool made up of residents summoned from Northern Georgia, which is more conservative than Fulton County.