OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump’s official mugshot has been released.
Earlier this week, the Trump campaign criticized Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and other prosecutors over his indictment related to allegations that he attempted to invalidate the state’s 2020 election results.
The Trump campaign mocked Willis as a “rabid partisan who is campaigning and raising money on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictments” in a statement that was not attributed to a specific spokesperson.
“Ripping a page from Crooked Joe Biden’s playbook, Willis has strategically stalled her investigation to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign. All of these corrupt Democrat attempts will fail,” the campaign said in a statement.
Check out the mugshot below:
Fulton County releases a mug shot following former President Donald Trump’s fourth arrest this year https://t.co/6L8hHv7MY7 pic.twitter.com/JglMVwOlpo
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) August 25, 2023
Trump and his allies have accused Willis and others of engaging in “election interference” aimed at hurting his 2024 presidential campaign.
“These activities by Democrat leaders constitute a grave threat to American democracy and are direct attempts to deprive the American people of their rightful choice to cast their vote for President,” the campaign statement said. “Call it election interference or election manipulation—it is a dangerous effort by the ruling class to suppress the choice of the people. It is un-American and wrong.”
Former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers warned last week 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.
Trump’s legal team may request to have his case taken out of the hands of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, according to a report published on Saturday.
According to The Epoch Times, it’s highly likely that Trump’s team will attempt to get his case moved out of the county court and to a federal court, as one defendant in the case has already requested.
“Ms. Willis’ case may face at least one legal hurdle in the form of a federal law that allows individuals who were federal officeholders at the time of an alleged criminal act to have the case go before a federal court,” the report said.
“Mark Meadows, who was also charged in the Georgia case and who was the White House chief of staff at the time, has already filed to have his case moved to federal court, and numerous legal experts have suggested President Trump might do the same,” the report continued.
“Moving the case from the Fulton County Superior Court to the local federal court could alter the dynamics of the trial and prove advantageous to President Trump in the long run,” the report added.
As the ex-president seeks to reclaim the presidency in 2024, there’s a theoretical possibility that he could grant himself a pardon for a federal offense. However, that authority obviously doesn’t extend to the state level.
That said, one of Trump’s attorneys, Alina Habba, has even said that Willis intentionally brought her indictment “so that if [Trump] is president, he can’t pardon himself if he’s convicted.”
According to legal scholar Paul Kamenar, transferring the case to the federal jurisdiction would introduce an additional level of complexity to Willis’ case. The shift, he said, would necessitate at least two distinct trials—one in state court and another before a federal judge.
