Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks to the media after a grand jury brought back indictments against former President Donald Trump and his allies in their attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023.
Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters
An Atlanta prosecutor on Thursday asked a judge to begin the Georgia election interference trial for Donald Trump and 18 other defendants on Oct. 23.
The scheduling request by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis came a day after one of Trump’s co-defendants, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, filed a demand for a speedy trial in the county Superior Court.
Willis directly cited Chesebro’s demand in her filing Thursday.
Chesebro’s lawyers, Scott Grubman and Manny Arora, in a statement to NBC News about Willis’ filing, said, “Mr. Chesebro will be prepared to move forward with trial for whatever date the Court ultimately sets.”
Trump is due to surrender later Thursday to be booked in the case.
He and the other defendants were indicted last week on charges related to an alleged criminal enterprise that sought to overturn his loss in Georgia’s 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
The DA’s request for a trial in the next two months, at least for Trump and most of the other defendants besides Chesebro, is unlikely to be granted due to the complexity of the case, and the large amount of evidence she collected over an investigation that began early 2021.
That evidence has yet to be turned over to the defendants, only half of whom have surrendered to be booked.