Fulton County prosecutors propose March 2024 trial for Trump, co-defendants

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has proposed a March 2024 trial date in her office’s racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others.

In a brief filing, a prosecutor for Willis’ office proposed a schedule he said would not conflict with “defendant Donald John Trump’s other criminal and civil matters.” 

Willis’ office suggested all 19 defendants, including attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, among other Trump allies, can be arraigned the week of Sept. 5. They are accused of operating a “criminal enterprise” while pursuing their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost.

Willis has given Trump and his co-defendants until Aug. 25 to turn themselves in for booking, a process that is expected to include mugshots at the Fulton County jail. In Georgia, unlike in federal court and in New York, the proceedings are allowed to be televised. 

Trump, Giuliani, Meadows and other defendants have denied wrongdoing in the case. They’ve accused Willis of pursuing them for political gain.

The March 4, 2024, trial date proposed by prosecutors in Fulton County is just three weeks before a trial scheduled in Trump’s Manhattan criminal case, in which he entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony charges related to the alleged concealment of “hush money” payments.

He’s also scheduled for trial on May 20, 2024 in a federal case in which he entered a not guilty plea to 40 felony counts related to alleged “willful retention” of classified information. 

In another federal criminal case, Trump entered a not guilty plea to four federal felony charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the election results. The office of special counsel Jack Smith has proposed a Jan. 2, 2024 trial date.

In each case, Trump, who is again running for president, has proposed trial dates that fall after the November 2024 election.

Trump has denied all the allegations against him.