CNN legal analyst says there's 'no planet' in which Trump is tried in March
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Wednesday that there was "no planet" in which former President Donald Trump's Georgia trial would happen in March, as DA Fani Willis has proposed.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Wednesday that there was "no planet" that Donald Trump is tired in March, as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has proposed.
CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Honig Wednesday night about the trial timeline for Willis' indictment.
"There is no earth. There is no planet on which this case will be tried in March. Due to the log jam that we just saw," Honig said, referring to the several other indictments. "Now we see all of these four different indictments and they’re all jockeying for very limited trial space, but the D.A. has asked to try this in March. First of all, there is an ongoing racketeering trial right now that the D.A.’s office is handling in Georgia. They are still choosing a jury, they’re seven months in. I know that sounds unbelievable, but state jury selection is way slower than in federal cases."
"So, even if they start in March, they’d still be picking a jury on election day, so that is not happening. I understand what the D.A. is doing, she’s doing what prosecutors are trained to do, you always say, ‘We are ready to go, any day, we want to try everyone all together,’ but March is not happening for this case," he continued.
CNN's Elie Honig said Wednesday that there was "no planet" in which Trump's Georgia trial would be happening in March. (Screenshot/CNN)
Cooper asked former U.S. attorney Michael Moore about whether there would be 19 people charged by the time the case goes to trial.
"No. There’s not a chance. There will be people who flip, who cooperate, some people who plead out. There may be people she decides to get rid of because it complicates the case. There won’t be 19 defendants sitting in the courtroom. Because there’s 19, that’s one of the reasons there’s no possible way that she’s going to go to trial in March," he said.
Moore also suggested that it was more of a "PR move" by Willis and said she was playing into Trump's hands.
"This is sort of a PR move, I think, on her part. I think it throws gas to Trump to say, ‘Look, why are they treating me different then every other criminal defendant in Fulton County? Why are they rushing my case? I’m not in custody taking up a jail bed? I didn’t kill somebody and that mama and daddy is waiting for the killer of their baby to be brought to trial. Why are they treating me different?,’" he said.
Moore added, "This is playing into that hand. And so until we recognize that he’s really campaigning through this process, then I think we’re giving him the gift that keeps on giving. That’s a lot of hot air."
Fani Willis and Donald Trump (Getty Images)
TRUMP INDICTED OUT OF GEORGIA PROBE INTO ALLEGED EFFORTS TO OVERTURN 2020 ELECTION
Willis' proposed trial date is on March 4, 2024, which is one day before elections on Super Tuesday, when the largest number of delegates are up for grabs of any single day in the primary cycle.
Cooper noted that federal charges against the former president would likely be tried first, something that panelist Jen Jordan, a former Georgia state senator who testified before the grand jury in the Georgia election probe, agreed with.
"It probably will if for no other reason than you have Donald Trump just at the top, right? You don’t have anybody else," Jordan said.
"But I think one of the most complicating things with respect to Willis’ case is because there are folks that can, kind of, pop into federal court and say that we should be there, like Mark Meadows, like Donald Trump, that really does extend the timeline. And she isn’t going to want to go forward on this Trump case without Donald Trump being there," she continued.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted former President Donald Trump over his alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
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Fox News' Bradford Betz and Claudia Kelly-Bazan contributed to this report.
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