Fani Willis Could Use Jack Smith Filing to Help Prosecute Trump in Georgia

Special counsel Jack Smith’s recent filing in the federal election interference case against Donald Trump could help Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis prosecute the Georgia case against Trump, according to a political analyst.

The former president and Republican nominee had faced the possibility of multiple trials while campaigning to win back the White House after being indicted in four criminal cases last year.

But a string of court decisions mean that both the federal and Georgia cases accusing him of seeking to overturn the 2020 election result will not take place before November’s election. Trump, whose sentencing in his hush money case has also been delayed until after the election, has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases and decried them as being politically motivated.

The federal case brought by Smith was delayed by the Supreme Court’s ruling in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for official acts carried out in office. Meanwhile, efforts to force Willis off the Georgia case have left it with no chance of going to trial before the end of the year.

A filing submitted by Smith, which was unsealed this week, aims to persuade U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that the offenses charged in the federal indictment were taken in Trump’s private capacity and can therefore remain part of the case.

Smith’s filing provides “a clear road map that validates the bulk of the case that’s been alleged here” in Fulton County, Georgia, Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, said on the Politically Georgia podcast on Thursday.

“If Jack Smith’s argument is taken by and large and accepted by Judge Chutkan and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and perhaps even the Supreme Court, if they take this up again, that provides Judge [Scott] McAfee and the Georgia courts with a very clear blueprint for for what’s permissible and what’s not, because a lot of the evidence is, in fact, the same.”

Kreis said there are “certain pieces of evidence” in the filing “that are really enlightening that perhaps the district attorney here in Fulton County did not have possession of or was unaware of. So there might be dynamics here at play where it strengthens their hand.”

Kreis has been contacted for further comment via social media. Willis’ office has been contacted via email.

In Georgia, Trump and 18 other associates were indicted in August 2023 on charges that they participated on a wide-ranging illegal scheme to overturn his 2020 election loss there. They all initially pleaded not guilty, but four of the people charged alongside Trump pleaded guilty to lesser charges after reaching deals with prosecutors.

Earlier this year, defense attorneys pushed to have Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade disqualified from the case, arguing that their relationship created a conflict of interest.

McAfee, who is overseeing the Georgia case, ruled in March that there was no conflict of interest that merited Willis’ removal from the case as long as Wade stepped aside. Trump appealed the decision, and the Georgia Court of Appeals plans to hear arguments in December.

Kreis noted that whether, and when, the cases go to trial depends on the outcome of November’s election.

“If Donald Trump is elected in November, he will certainly ensure that the Department of Justice dismisses this case,” he said, referring to the federal case.

“The federal case entirely hinges on the election, that however does not remove the possibility of the Georgia case because a president of the United States can’t pardon for state crimes, and so that that will remain hanging over Donald Trump.”

If Trump wins a second term, he said, he would likely not face trial in Georgia until after he leaves office.

“I think the consensus is by most scholars out there of the Constitution that you can’t try sitting president under state law, and so that’ll have to wait until Donald Trump would leave office right in 2029,” he said. “But that does not mean that other people, right, all these other co defendants can’t be tried in that interim period.”