Liberal DA Fani Willis Devastated After Georgia Court Delivers SHOCK Decision to Trump!
CNN’s leading legal analyst has suggested that the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump in Georgia regarding his purported efforts to overturn the 2020 election results may ultimately be dismissed following the case's recent delay.
Elie Honig, a Senior Legal Analyst at CNN and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, offered this perspective after a Georgia appellate court decided to postpone the case this week.
“It’s over. Let’s be realistic. It’s not happening before the 2024 election. It’s not happening in 2024. It’s maybe not happening at all,” Honig stated during a segment on Thursday. “Now, look, the appeals court, we can never predict what they’re going to do. But there’s some things we know for sure. Number one, they didn’t have to take this case, the appeal, and they chose to. The other thing is they didn’t have to pause the district court.”
Continuing, he said, “In fact, the trial court judge, when he issued his ruling, allowing Donald Trump, and the others, to ask the appeals court to take the case, the trial court judge specified, while you all are doing that, I am going to continue holding proceedings in this trial court. And now, today, just a couple hours ago, the appeals court said no, no, no, pause that, too. So, that tells me that they are taking this appeal very seriously. And if Trump and the defendants prevail in this appeal, this case is essentially toast.”
Honig also mentioned that if the case is dismissed, former Trump officials who had earlier entered guilty pleas would likely seek to retract them.
“There is a separate issue that Trump and the other defendants are going to raise that I think is a bigger deal, which is Fani Willis’ inappropriate comments about the case outside of court,” he added. “Judge McAfee found those comments to be, quote, ‘legally improper,’ and then he did nothing about it. And so, the defense is going to argue to the Court of Appeals, if the prosecutor makes, quote, ‘legally improper’ statements that impair the constitutional rights of the defendant, there needs to be a remedy for that.”
WATCH:
The Georgia Court of Appeals officially took on the case on Monday, setting October 4th as the initial date for oral arguments.
Judges Todd Markle, Trenton Brown, and Benjamin Land were selected via a computer-generated random process to hear what is anticipated to be one of the most high-profile appeals in the court's history.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the judges all served as trial judges before their appointments to the appellate court:
–Markle, who was appointed to the court by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018, is a former Fulton County Superior Court judge.
–Land, who was appointed to the bench two years ago by Gov. Brian Kemp, is a former Superior Court judge for the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in West Georgia.
–Brown, appointed by Deal in 2018, served as a Superior Court judge for the eight-county Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit in central Georgia.
Marietta attorney Ashleigh Merchant has indicated she will request the court to hear oral arguments on behalf of Mike Roman, one of Trump’s 14 remaining co-defendants in the racketeering case. Merchant was the first defense lawyer to move for Willis’ disqualification in January.
It is unlikely that the three-judge appellate panel will reach a verdict before the November presidential election.
The Georgia Constitution mandates a decision within two terms of court, requiring the justices to decide by mid-March 2025. Though typically, cases are decided about eight and a half months after they are first filed, the judges might expedite the process.