challenged a lot of what they said were voter suppression tactics in the 2018 election. and he threw all those things out of court. democrats a big load there. and not only did he throw their claims out of court, he ordered them to repay the state something in the neighborhood of $200,000 in legal fees. so he is known for having an independent streak. he s got a big redistricting case next week as well. so he s got a lot on his plate. katie, what could this ruling mean for donald trump in the other defendants in all this? back if mark meadows is allowed to move this to federal court to have a different jury pool, a couple of impacts. one is that could expand the jury pool for him which could be slightly more favorable than fulton county, which is a little bit more blue and has a little bit less for donald trump. also, other defendants, they also could make an argument that their cases should be moved. and it could also slow things
fani willis herself has suggested she could start this case sometime in the spring of 2024. it strikes me as a more reasonable period of time for the remaining defendants. and why would she want all of them to be tried to gather at once? i would think that would put an enormous amount of pressure on her, barb. yes i do too and she has, as you pointed, out said i want one jury to see the full scope of this conspiracy and of this interview prize and how all these different groups working together for the common goal of overcoming the election. i think she tried as many as 12 defendants together in a prior rico case. in cases i have handled with large numbers of defendants like this, often the judge will sever the case into smaller groups of defendants because there is a concern that a jury could be confused and have a hard time keeping track of the evidence against each of the
with that, let s get smarter with help of our leadoff panel tonight. my friend, katie benner is here, pulitzer prize-winning reporter for the new york times, shannon mccaffrey, editor of the atlanta journal-constitution s georgia grand jury coverage, and barb mcquade, a veteran federal prosecutor, and former attorney for the eastern district of michigan. shannon, you are our hometown reporter tonight, help us understand this. fani willis appears to be taking the idea of a speedy trial to a whole other level with this request. what do we need to know? well, she said all along, you know, since this case began, we realized there were 19 defendants here that she wants these folks tried all together. she has said of the r. i. c. o. law, one of the reasons she likes it, is that it gives a jury the totality of a case, right? they re not seeing one angle of it. they re seeing the whole case. in her mind, this was all part of a criminal conspiracy. she wants to try these folks together. what
codefendants saying, not so fast, we are not demanding a speedy trial. in fact, we are prepared to waive our speedy trial rights, and we re going to need far more time to prepare. a chorus of voices singing some special song. sydney powell, one of trump s other campaign lawyers, has also filed for a speedy trial. today, she pleaded not guilty, waving an arraignment on september 6th. meanwhile, mark meadows request to move his case to federal court is now in the hands of a judge who is asking for more information before making any decision. a judge has asked fani willis s team for more details. both sides have until five pm thursday to respond.
that s a lot. yeah, i think one of the things we saw with fani willis was, remember back in january we had a recommendation from a special grand jury to go forward with indictments, and then she waited several months before she actually filed that indictment. i think she recognized this was a possibility, and she wanted to have all her ducks in a row before she filed at indictment. so by waiting until august to file it, my guess is she had all the discovery ready, her witness list, her trial prep, ready to go. she ll be ready to go in october. the truth is, a prosecutor usually is ready to go when they file the indictment because they bolivian with the case for a couple of years, as she has. the defense is seeing the case for the first time. it wouldn t surprise me if some of these other defendants would want to sever the case and ask for more time to get ready for trial because they can t be ready by october. like 2026 are probably a nonstarter, but requesting date a little farther