Could Trump spend Election Day 2024 in a courtroom? Fani Willis says trial date may overlap

WASHINGTON - The Georgia prosecutor who charged Donald Trump with an illegal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election said Tuesday he faces a trial next fall that could last through Election Day 2024.

“I believe in that case there will be a trial ... I believe the trial will take many months ... And I don’t expect that we will conclude until the winter or the very early part of 2025,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told The Washington Post Live’s Global Women’s Summit.

Trump and his attorneys, who have accused Willis of political motivations, will likely object to a trial during the height of election season.

The Trump legal team is pushing to delay all four of his criminal trials past Election Day of Nov. 5, 2024.

If Willis' suggestion pans out, Trump would find himself in a courtroom during a fall campaign against Democratic President Joe Biden, if he wins the Republican presidential nomination.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is working out scheduling issues for the complex case that involves the former president and 18 co-defendants.

Several defendants have now taken plea deals that included an agreement to testify for the state. They include three lawyers who were involved in efforts to overturn Trump's loss to Biden: Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro.

An aide to one of Trump's co-defendants, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said Willis is playing politics with the trial schedule.

"Fani Willis' admittance that this case is going to stretch well past the 2024 Election just further demonstrates how this entire fraudulent case is part of the Democrat Party and permanent Washington political class's attempt to keep Donald Trump out of the White House in 2024," said Giuliani political advisor Ted Goodman.

Goodman also noted that Willis is in Washington for a campaign fundraiser to help finance her district attorney's re-election campagn.

Fani Willis: political campaigns play no role in her decision making

In The Washington Post forum, Willis said the campaign plays no role in her decision making.

“I don’t, when making decisions about cases to bring, consider any election cycle or an election season," Willis said. "That does not go into the calculus. What goes into the calculus is: This is the law. These are the facts. And the facts show you violated the law. Then charges are brought."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When will the former president go to court in Georgia?