'It's Over': CNN Legal Analyst Offers His Take on the State of the Trump Georgia Trial

CNN’s Elie Honig 

 

was not bullish on the Georgia RICO case starting up before the end of the 2024 election cycle, adding a definitive “it’s over” on that question. As Spencer wrote last Friday, that trial, which has been beset by serious ethics allegations lobbed against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, has been postponed. The reason why Honig said there’s no hope of getting this legal action restarted before Election Day is the date before the appeals court, which is the first week in October, and that’s a “tentative” date: 

The Georgia Court of Appeals ordered a temporary pause in the Fulton County case against Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday afternoon pending the court's ruling determining whether District Attorney Fani Willis can remain on the case following concerns about improper conduct related to her romantic and professional relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to handle the Trump case, Nathan Wade. 

"The proceedings below in the Superior Court of Fulton County are hereby stayed pending the outcome of these appeals," the order states, listing Trump and eight of his co-defendants who sought to have Willis disqualified: Mike Roman, David Shafer, Bob Cheeley, Mark Meadows, Cathy Latham, Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark, and Harrison Floyd. 

A three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals is "tentatively" scheduled to hear arguments on October 4, CBS News reported earlier this week, though the deadline for the court to issue its ruling is not until March 14, 2025. 

The senior legal analyst even said it’s possible that this trial could be scuttled entirely. 

“It's over. It's not happening before the 2024 election. It's not happening in 2024. It's maybe not happening at all,” he said to host Kaitlan Collins. He also added the one area where Trump and his co-defendants will argue: Willis’ inappropriate comments about the case outside of court. 

“Judge McAfee found those comments to be 'legally improper' then he did nothing about it,” said Honig. “The defense is going to argue to the court of appeals if the prosecutor makes 'legally improper statements' that impair the constitutional rights of the defendant; there needs to be a remedy for that." 

Former President Donald Trump remains Teflon Don. The guilty verdict in the Manhattan trial doesn’t matter—it’s done no damage to his 2024 chances. Most Americans felt the trial was a sham. Trump’s chances of winning have only increased since the Manhattan verdict. The other trials are coming undone. It’s animated and angered the GOP base, whereas the Democrats are divided, with their core voter groups exhibiting a conspicuous lack of enthusiasm. 

With Biden’s sagging approval ratings, lack of legislative accomplishment, and overall inability to do the job, the lawfare was the Left’s only hope, and it’s not working. Honig also penned a damning piece gutting the basis for the hush money trial, noting that it came perilously close to violating due process, along with nit-picking why there probably shouldn’t have been a trial. It contorted legal definitions so much that they lost meaning. In other words, DA Alvin Bragg made up stuff to ensnare Trump, which fulfilled a campaign promise to his constituents. This whole circus is banana republic antics, and there will be a reckoning.

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