Fulton County prosecutors say their 2020 elections interference case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others will take around four months to try in court.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade provided the estimate during a hearing Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, adding that they would seek testimony from around 150 witnesses.
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Wade noted that the timeline does not include jury selection. An ongoing racketeering case in Fulton County against members of the Young Slime Life gang has been in the midst of jury selection for nearly eight months without any jurors selected for the case.
The special prosecutor added that the case would take a similar amount of time to present and include a similar amount of witnesses even if defendants Kenneth Chesebro or Sidney Powell are severed from the other defendants.
Both Chesebro and Powell have demanded a speedy trial and District Attorney Fani Willis has proposed an Oct. 23 start date for the pair, while they individually seek to be tried separately from each other and the remaining defendants. Willis has remained adamant about trying all 19 defendants at once and previously recommended a trial start in early March.
McAfee said his initial reaction to the proposed schedule led him to think it was “unrealistic,” especially as it relates to handling pretrial motions.
“It just seems a bit unrealistic to think that we can handle all 19 in just 40-something days,” McAfee said.
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A lawyer for Chesebro cited the YSL case in part in a statement doubting the timeline presented by Wade, arguing “this trial does not have to last four months” if his client can have his case severed.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
