Donald Trump, now campaigning for president, also remains the subject of a total of four criminal cases, including a set of charges brought in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who accused the former president and 18 other defendants of involvement in a criminal conspiracy targeting Georgia’s 2020 election results.
In a discussion with The Associated Press, Willis rebuffed the idea that proceedings against Trump should be suspended because of his ongoing run for the White House, which he launched publicly only after investigations into him by Willis and others were already known. “If the prosecutor finds that they violated the law, they have an ethical duty to bring forth charges and so this is a silly notion to me that because one runs [for] office that your criminal case would stop,” the prosecutor, who was elected by locals, said.
Consistently, Trump and allies of his have tried to characterize the cases against the presidential contender from Willis and others as election interference because of the ongoing Trump campaign, but there’s just no evidence for political intentions. Instead, all four of the criminal cases facing Trump were brought under established judicial procedures, and Trump has retained the opportunity like other defendants to seek procedural restitution for supposed problems in the process. It strains credibility for Trump to argue he’s the victim of a political vendetta while he can bring those arguments before judges at multiple levels and be awarded potentially significant victory if they agree.
Several defendants from Willis’ case have already pleaded guilty, but most remain subject to unresolved charges, and the district attorney has not indicated an interest in offering Trump a deal. She is pushing for trial next summer, which would put proceedings months after trial as it is currently scheduled on the similar charges at the federal level against Trump from Jack Smith, the Justice Department’s special counsel handling Trump proceedings.
