Pros and cons exist in Trump’s move of Georgia indictment to federal court, says legal analyst.
Trump’s Criminal Indictment: Challenges and Potential Moves
Former President Donald Trump is considering moving his latest criminal indictment from a state court to a federal court. Legal analyst David Gelman explains that while there are advantages to this move, there are also challenges.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has successfully convinced a grand jury to charge President Trump and several co-defendants with allegations of lawbreaking related to his efforts to dispute the 2020 election results. One of the co-defendants, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, has already requested to have the charges moved to a federal court, citing a federal law that allows federal officeholders to have their cases heard in federal court.
Two other co-defendants in the Georgia case have also made similar requests, and Trump’s legal team has indicated that he may pursue the same defense maneuver. However, if Trump is elected back to the White House, he can pardon federal convictions, but he has no power to pardon state-level offenses like the ones brought against him by Ms. Willis. Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, has raised concerns about this and hinted that her client may push to have his charges brought to a federal court.
According to Gelman, there are pros and cons to moving the indictment to a federal court. He believes that a change of venue is necessary regardless of whether it goes to federal or state courts because he doesn’t think Trump can get a fair trial in Fulton County. Gelman expressed concerns about the way Fulton County officials are publicizing the case, including talks of staging a mugshot for the former president.
Gelman stated, “It seems to me that the Fulton County DA’s office is really trying to get as much media coverage as possible. They want to make a spectacle of this. You know, it’s not every day you’re going to have the president or former president of the United States coming to their courthouse. So they’re going to try to do everything to maximize their coverage and make their case for them.”
Relocating the Fulton County indictment to a federal court could result in a longer case. This delay could be advantageous for President Trump, as he and his team have been seeking to push his trial dates beyond 2024, after the next presidential election.
Challenges for Federal Relocation
Moving the case to a federal court may provide a more favorable venue for the former president, but he may face challenges in demonstrating that he was acting in his official capacity as the president during the alleged actions. Gelman explained, ”So these allegations that are against the president, were they being done while he was the commander in chief, or were they done while he was in campaign mode? The statute provides that it can be brought up to the federal system in the event that you are acting in a federal capacity. So these are all questions that are going to have to be answered before they can make a decision on whether it’s going to be going to the federal court, or in the event of just a change of venue in general.”
Gelman believes that Trump’s legal team hasn’t made the motion to move the Fulton case to a federal court because they want to see how the motion plays out for other defendants.
Potential New Charges for Hunter Biden
Shifting focus to another politically charged prosecution, Gelman predicts that Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, may face new criminal charges. This comes after a recent criminal plea deal fell through and U.S. Attorney David Weiss was granted special counsel powers in the investigation.
Gelman noted that Republican investigators have also been examining certain instances of communication between the elder and younger Biden as Hunter pursued business deals.
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