ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA – JULY 29: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a political rally while campaigning for the GOP nomination in the 2024 election at Erie Insurance Arena on July 29, 2023 in Erie, Pennsylvania.
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It may not make sense for Trump to ever go to trial in Georgia, an ex-prosecutor says.
A former prosecutor told Insider Trump might already face the rest of his life behind bars in other cases.
The Georgia case is currently at “the back of the line,” Neama Rahmani said.
Even though former President Donald Trump has been indicted in Georgia and accused of scheming to overturn the 2020 election, it may not even be worth it to have a trial for the case, a former prosecutor said.
That’s because he might already be serving time for any of the multiple federal cases against him.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor in California, said that convictions in the federal cases could lead to federal prison time, especially in the Washington DC election case being overseen by US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan.
“Trump is 77,” Rahmani said. “If he’s convicted in the federal cases — especially in the DC case, Judge Chutkan is likely going to give him federal prison time, and he may never even be brought to trial.”
Rahmani said that this is now the fourth case where Trump has been indicted, meaning it’s at “the back of the line.”
Trump on Monday was indicted with 13 felony charges in Georgia in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. Eighteen co-conspirators were also indicted, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, the GOP lawyers Sidney Powell and John Eastman, and more.
Charges against Trump, in this case, include racketeering, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy, making false statements and writings, and filing false documents.
The former President also faces a state criminal indictment in New York over his role in a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels, which goes to trial in March 2024; a federal criminal indictment out of Florida over his handling of classified documents, which goes to trial in May 2024; and a federal criminal indictment in Washington, DC, in connection to the January 6 insurrection, which will get a trial date at the end of this month.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis investigated the Georgia case but “really waited a long time, unnecessarily, in my opinion,” Rahmani said.
“She waited years,” he said. “She convened a special grand jury — that wasn’t necessary because they can only do recommendations. She’s really sat on this case for a really long time.”
Considering how many other cases Trump will be tried for first, and how long Willis took to finally indict, “I don’t know if this trial would even be necessary if Trump were convicted in some of the other cases,” Rahmani said, adding that “on the federal side, you’re going to get more time.”
Rahmani then wondered if Trump gets years in federal prison, “does it make sense” to have him “stand trial in Georgia when there’s a possibility he dies in prison?”