Could Trump's Georgia election meddling case go to trial in October?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Former President Donald Trump surrendered Thursday at the Fulton County jail, where he was booked on 13 felony counts related to an alleged scheme to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia.
His surrender in Georgia marks the fourth time this year the former president has turned himself in after criminal charges were brought against him by federal and state officials. But it's the first time he was subjected to a mug shot, shown here. Within about an hour after he boarded his plane to leave Atlanta, his Save America PAC had sent a fundraising email featuring his mug shot on a t-shirt.
Meantime, prosecutors have asked the judge handling the case to set a trial date of Oct. 23 for Trump and his co-defendants. The trial originally was set for March, but one of Trump's co-defendants has asked for a speedy trial, and Trump's team already has filed their opposition to that request.
CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said the likelihood of a trial as soon as October is "about zero."
"Not for him, though. If he wants a speedy trial, he may get a speedy trial. But for the other defendants, they will not be forced to go to trial this soon. It can't be done. It can't be done logistically. You have a right to an attorney, but you also have a right to have an effective attorney, and you can't have an effective attorney on a case like this in two months," he said.
Miller said it will be virtually impossible to bring the case to trial for all 19 defendants before the 2024 presidential election.
"There's too many defendants, too many counts, and too much paperwork, too much discovery," he said.
As for the terms of his bail, those were worked out in advance.
A consent bond order for Trump filed on Monday with the Fulton County Superior Court and signed by Judge Scott McAfee lists the terms of the bond and several conditions the former president must adhere to. It includes specific amounts for each of the 13 counts he faces, including $80,000 for the first charge of violating Georgia's racketeering law, and $10,000 for each of the remaining 12 charges. The order says Trump can post the bond as "cash, through commercial surety, or through the Fulton County Jail 10% program."
The order states that Trump "shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice." He is prohibited from making "direct or indirect threat[s] of any nature" against any co-defendants, witnesses or victims, including on social media.
Trump also cannot communicate "in any way, directly or indirectly" about the case with any of the 18 others charged in Fulton County except through his attorney.
"He basically is being silenced when it comes to this particular case," Miller said. "He has to basically not try to rig the system by his tweets, and things that he says. It has to be a fair trial both for the prosecutor and for the defense. So that's what they're trying to control by keeping a lid on what he says, and frankly I'm curious to see whether or not he can do that."
The terms are agreed to by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the former president's three lawyers, Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg and Jennifer Little.
