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Despite having a competing pretrial session in New York on the same day for another legal matter, Trump intends to attend the hearing, according to close sources of the former president who spoke anonymously to WaPo.
Trump would be making his court appearance for the Georgia racketeering case for the first time since the grand jury’s August indictment if he decides to forego his appearance in New York in favor of attending the hearing in Atlanta. Georgian officials have charged Trump and eighteen other people of plotting to rig the 2020 presidential election results.
According to WaPo:
If Trump shows up for the hearing on Thursday, he will be subjected to examination and probing of Willis’s personal and business life. His appearance would probably draw more attention to the already highly anticipated events and maybe cause more turmoil.
The former president was accused of inappropriately withholding secret papers and impeding efforts by the government to recover them. He spent a portion of Monday at a closed-door hearing in Florida for one of his criminal trials. Judge Aileen Cannon convened separately with prosecutors, Trump, and his legal representatives at that hearing to decide whether secret documents should be made available to Trump as part of the discovery process.
It’s uncertain if the Fulton County Courthouse in Georgia is ready for the former president to visit. Trump’s plans were unknown to a spokesman for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, which is in charge of the building’s security. The two people who stated that Trump wanted to visit Atlanta did so under the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk about it in public.
In spite of Willis’s concerns, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee decided on Monday to proceed with the hearing. This is because Willis can be removed from the case if there is a real conflict or mere appearance of one. Nevertheless, McAfee declared that he would not consider testimony during the hearing concerning prosecutor Nathan Wade’s purported ineligibility for the position, pointing out that the district attorney has the authority to recruit anybody who has “a heartbeat and a bar card.”
According to McAfee, the main goals of the hearing would be to ascertain if Willis gained financially by employing Wade, when their romantic relationship began, and if it continues.
