Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump was already in trouble, but now that Trump is on his way to the White House, it may never resume.
This year, a judge reduced the indictment by dismissing several charges. At the same time, the entire case became uncertain after the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to consider disqualifying Willis and the Supreme Court issued its decision on presidential immunity.
Now, even if the indictment survives those glaring challenges, prosecuting Trump for the eight 2020 election-related charges he faces appears impossible while he is in office.
The Department of Justice has long maintained that prosecuting presidents would violate the separation of powers and is therefore best avoided. The Department of Justice has already indicated that Trump’s two federal criminal cases will be terminated, and his two state cases in Georgia and New York may follow suit soon.
A source familiar with Trump’s legal plans predicted that the Georgia case, which is still in the pretrial stage, would be dismissed. This comes as Trump’s sentencing for his New York conviction for falsifying business records appears increasingly unlikely.
“Looking at the overall legal situation, I mean, the lawfare campaign against President Trump is now over. “Nothing is going to change,” the source told the Washington Examiner, adding that “Georgia is going to be dismissed.”
One complication in the case is that several co-defendants, including former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and former Trump DOJ official Jeff Clark, are still facing charges in the case and are not protected by DOJ policy.
Madeline Summerville, a Georgia-based attorney and consultant, stated that if the case resumes after the Court of Appeals rules on Trump’s disqualification, the remaining co-defendants may still be required to participate in the case without him.
“It can still absolutely go forward without him,” Summerville told the Washington Examiner. “The deal with the RICO cases is that it’s difficult to try a bunch of people together, but that’s become sort of a trend because they’re establishing the conspiracy. … It would be interesting because Trump wouldn’t be able to testify if it was moving forward against the others, right?”
She also said if Willis is disqualified from the case, it would be handed over to another district attorney and the GOP-controlled state Senate would also have a say in the transfer.
It is possible, Summerville said, that another district attorney will decide the case “does not serve the public interest” and will not pursue it.
Willis faces disqualification as a result of a previously undisclosed romantic relationship with the former special prosecutor she hired to lead the case. The Court of Appeals plans to hear oral arguments on Willis’ disqualification in December and issue a decision sometime next year.
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