OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump and others, got some bad news on Tuesday from a former federal prosecutor.
Former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers said on CNN on Tuesday, hours after the indictment, that Willis will probably not get what she wants. The DA has set an ambitious goal of going to trial in the case against the former president and 18 others within six months.
“Back in 2022 just last year, she brought a case against a rapper and several others. What does that tell you about the timing of this case and how quickly or slowly it might be able to come to trial?” CNN anchor Sara Sidner said to the former prosecutor.
“Fani Willis has a lot of experience with RICO throughout her prosecutorial career, so she knows what she’s doing in this regard. But going back to the Young Thug case, it’s still in jury selection. I mean months and months just in jury selection,” she said.
“Picking a jury for the former president and these other high ranking former officials and lawyers and so on is going to be even more complicated than picking a jury for the Young Thung RICO case so to me that just underscores again that six months is an unrealistic goal to try this thing,” she said.
Prior to the indictment, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ran through some important logistics during a routine Monday morning in the local courthouse while overseeing the grand jury proceedings.
“If a grand jury presents an indictment, that’s usually in the afternoon, and you can film and photograph that,” McBurney told reporters and members of the public crowded into his courtroom before hearing motions in a murder case stemming from a nightclub shooting.
According to a report by The Messenger, “at least part” of the indictment “may be televised.”
“A block away, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has begun her closed-door presentation of her case to a grand jury that’s deciding whether to indict the former president and a number of co-conspirators in the effort to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia. The grand jury Willis is working with meets only on Mondays and Tuesdays, driving heightened attention that charges could come either day to start this week,” the outlet reported.
“If the grand jury votes to indict, be it on Monday or Tuesday, the indictment will be walked over from Willis’ office to the county courthouse by a representative of the clerk’s office, the Fulton County sheriff’s office, and the grand jury. It will be presented to McBurney to sign and be made public. The names of jurors will also be made public at that time,” The Messenger continued.
The outlet added: “If an indictment happens on Monday or Tuesday, expect it to be in the afternoon, and the media’s cameras in the courtroom will be allowed to film the moment it is made public, McBurney said. There will not, however, be an out loud reading of the documents, he said.”
Trump has stated that he will not be accepting any kind of plea deal in relation to his current indictments.
At the Iowa State Fair, Trump was asked about reports that he will be indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, and he delivered a fiery message to District Attorney Fani Willis, Mediaite reported.
“Is there any chance you take a plea deal in Georgia?” a reporter asked Trump.
“We did nothing wrong. We don’t ever take a plea deal. We don’t take plea deals. It’s a wise guy question. You’re just a wise guy. “We don’t take plea deals because I did nothing wrong. It’s called election interference,” Trump said.
Trump has reiterated that he will not cut a deal as he “did nothing wrong.”
