Legal Experts Say Georgia Election Interference Trial Can Proceed as Early as This Summer
Trump’s “Delay, Delay, Delay, Delay Tactic Is Going to Run out of Steam”
Legal experts Norm Eisen, Amy Lee Copeland, and Allegra Lawrence-Hardy briefed the press today on Judge McAfee’s decision to not disqualify DA Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference case and where the case goes next. They argued that Judge McAfee made the right decision, because the defendants did not meet the steep burden required by Georgia law. Lawrence-Hardy noted that “with this portion of the sideshow ended,” DA Willis can “get back to work.”
Eisen, Copeland, and Lawrence-Hardy agreed that, now that the judge has ruled, it is critically important to get the prosecution back on track and scheduled for the summer. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s New York 2016 election interference trial will likely conclude at some point in May, and there will be a gap in the legal calendar after that case finishes. It is logical, they said, that the Georgia election interference case goes next. That would immediately return the focus back to where it should be: the mountain of evidence supporting DA Willis’ allegations of Trump’s criminal conspiracy to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.
The briefing was hosted by the Defend Democracy Project (DDP).
EXCERPTS FROM THE MARCH 15, 2024 BRIEFING
Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee majority during the first impeachment and trial of President Trump. Special Counsel and “Ethics Czar” during the Obama Administration (2009 – 2011):
- “On the whole, the opinion does allow us to get past this distraction and get back to what the case is really about: the most serious alleged criminal conspiracy that one can imagine. Namely, an effort led by the president of the United States, from the Oval Office, to overturn an election outcome in Georgia and nationally to perpetuate himself in office even though he lost the election, and to deprive all the voters of America of the choice of the American people for president.”
- “The need is for speed. If I were Fani Willis, I would embrace this ruling, I would respectfully register my disagreement with one or two points, and on Monday I would move to either renew the August request she’s made, or go even sooner… We have waited long enough for this case to move.”
Amy Lee Copeland, Appellate Chief at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Georgia (2000-2009):
- “This was the right decision. The judge did a great job of talking about what the Georgia law was, about actual conflict of interest and appearance of impropriety… The decision that came out is the best bad decision that the DA could get. It found that there was no actual conflict here that required disqualification. Instead, there was an appearance of impropriety. To keep public trust… something had to change.”
Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Atlanta attorney. Co-founder and Partner, Lawrence & Bundy LLC:
- “This case has never been about any vacation or personal relationship of consenting adults. What’s important here is the attempt to steal an election here in Georgia. We are glad [in Fulton County] that we have a DA who will hold those involved accountable, and we look forward to seeing this portion of the sideshow ended so that we can get back to work.”
- “[Willis] has an obligation to the voters who elected her to move this case forward, and to move forward for accountability.”
