Donald Trump's Georgia Case Will Not Go to Trial Before Election, Court Decides

Donald Trump has seemingly evaded another criminal trial — at least until well after the 2024 election — following an appeals court order that shifted the timeline in his Georgia election subversion case.

On Wednesday, June 5, the Georgia Court of Appeals told Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee that he cannot move forward with pretrial motions as planned until a decision is made on Trump's latest appeal. (The former president recently challenged McAfee's decision to let District Attorney Fani Willis stay on the case, despite having a relationship with one of her prosecutors.)

Oral arguments in Trump's appeal are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 4, and the court will have until March to deliver its ruling. The losing side will be able to raise their issue with the Georgia Supreme Court, which would further delay the trial from getting underway.

For months, writing has been on the wall that only one of Trump's four criminal cases would reach a trial by November. That's his Manhattan criminal case, which recently led to a conviction on 34 felony counts of falsified business records with a larger implication that he intended to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.

In his federal classified documents case — where he is charged with violating the Espionage Act, among other things — the Trump-appointed judge has dragged her feet on pretrial motions, deciding in May that she would postpone the trial indefinitely.

His federal Jan. 6 case, which includes a charge of conspiring to defraud the United States, is on hold until the Supreme Court rules on whether presidential immunity protects him from prosecution. That ruling is expected in late June, and appears likely to result in the case getting kicked back to a lower court to decide how to narrow the scope of a trial.

That left his Georgia case — where a Fulton County grand jury indicted him with 13 felony counts relating to an alleged group attempt to overturn the state's 2020 election results. Three of his charges were previously thrown out by Judge McAfee, leaving him on the hook for 10 felony counts, including a violation of the Georgia RICO Act.

Though many doubted that the Georgia case would go to trial before the election, the latest appeals court order made it official.

If Trump wins the 2024 presidential election and returns to the White House, there is no precedent for how his criminal cases should be handled.

Trump could order his Department of Justice to try and end — or at least delay — the federal cases, though the state prosecution in Georgia is trickier territory. Many legal experts have also suggested that whatever sentence he is given in Manhattan on July 11 would likely be suspended so that he could fulfill the duties of the office.

Trump's ability to skirt his most serious charges then hinges on his ability to defeat Joe Biden. If voters shut down his attempt at a political comeback, he has a daunting road ahead.