Legal experts criticized John Eastman’s request for expedited legal proceedings in the 2020 Georgia election interference case, urging the court to move faster than Donald Trump’s case.
Eastman, indicted in the RICO probe along with Trump and 17 others, filed a request through his attorney on Monday, proposing that remaining defendants be split into two groups, separate from Trump, and allowed to enter a plea by early 2024. Eastman’s legal team has been contacted for comment.
This request coincided with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office proposing a final plea date of June 21, 2024, and a trial start date of August 5, 2024, for all defendants charged in the investigation. Willis aims to trial all defendants simultaneously for alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The proposed timeline raises the possibility of Trump, the GOP primary frontrunner, winning the 2024 presidential election before facing potential guilt in a state case without the ability to pardon himself upon taking office.
Trump has already opposed the state’s proposed trial date motion, and both he and Eastman have pleaded not guilty to all counts. Trump often claims the Georgia proceedings are a politically motivated “witch hunt” to hinder his chances in the next election.
Eastman’s attorney, William Parker, criticized the June 2024 final plea date as “arbitrary and capricious” and suggested an earlier date in 2024. Parker proposed splitting the defendants into two groups without Trump, allowing sufficient time for two trials of around eight defendants each.
He argued that excluding Trump would expedite proceedings by not involving Secret Service agents assigned to protect the former president.
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman questioned Eastman’s request to separate defendants from Trump, describing it as “pretty strange” and noting typos. Litman found it interesting that Eastman wanted three trials, two with eight defendants each, followed by Trump’s trial alone.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance dismissed Eastman’s reasoning for severing Trump from other defendants, asserting there’s no evidence that having the Secret Service in the courtroom would slow down proceedings. Vance suggested that Eastman may seek to delay Trump’s trial to benefit him, allowing Trump’s lawyers to preview the evidence presented by Willis’ office.
Vance criticized the motion as a transparent effort to delay Trump’s trial and provide a preview of the evidence, characterizing it as a weak attempt by Eastman to advance Trump’s agenda.
Other individuals charged in Willis’ investigation, including Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, are set to go on trial. Four individuals, including Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, took a plea deal and agreed to testify against other defendants in the case. Chesebro and Powell had their cases severed from other defendants before taking the plea deal.
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