Fani Willis Has 'An Uphill Battle' Against Donald Trump: Legal Expert

Fulton County District Fani Willis still has her work cut out to secure convictions after charging Donald Trump and his allies in a sprawling 2020 election interference case, according to legal experts.

Trump was indicted for the fourth time this year on Monday when Willis' office charged him with a range of offenses over allegations he engaged in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the last U.S. election.

Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has long denied any wrongdoing in connection with Willis' probe and her of carrying out a "witch hunt". In a statement after the charges were announced, Trump's campaign team said the "legal double-standard" set against him "must end."

"Under the Crooked Biden Cartel, there are no rules for Democrats, while Republicans face criminal charges for exercising their First Amendment rights," the statement added. Willis' office has been contacted for comment via email.

As well as accusing Trump of 13 offenses, a total of 18 other co-conspirators including Trump's former White House chief of Staff Mark Meadows and members of the former president's legal team such as Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro were charged under Willis' expansive investigation which began two and a half years ago.

Each defendant in Willis' 98-page indictment was charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which is commonly used to prosecute organized crime gangs. Willis has also indicated that she wants to trial each suspect at the same time, and that the proceedings to begin within six months.

However, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, suggested that Willis is facing an "uphill struggle" for her timeframe to be met, especially as the former president is also scheduled to go on trial in three other criminal cases against him in the coming months.

"She says she wants a trial in six months, but that won't happen for a few reasons. She's fourth in line behind the other indictments and she's charged 19 people, including a number of lawyers who are going to litigate the case and raise every legal argument possible, such as attorney-client privilege," Rahmani told Newsweek.

"The biggest problem with this indictment is that Fani Willis took so long. She should have come out faster so she wouldn't be last in line. Trump's best defense is delay, delay, delay. He's going to try and push this out by arguing she waited two and a half years to file charges and now she wants a trial in six months and he'll say that's not fair play."

It has long been suggested that Willis would attempt to file charges against Trump and others using the state's RICO statute, which allows prosecutors to bring charges against defendants who are all accused of at least two crimes while working towards a common goal.

Defense attorney Joshua Ritter, a partner with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers and a former Los Angeles County prosecutor, said the trial which involves a former president and 18 other defendants accused of 41 charges look set to be a "monumental undertaking" for prosecutors.

"If the defendants are all tried at the same time, how is the court going to get through witness testimony when a room full of attorneys are all clamoring for time to cross-examine?" Ritter told Newsweek.

"The feds handle these types of RICO indictments all the time, but typically they break them down into smaller cases because otherwise it's logistically impossible to try all the defendants at the same time."

With regards to the allegations against Trump, Ritter said the indictment doesn't always "present a direct line between" Trump making a false statement about the election results and conspiring to commit an unlawful act, which may play into the former president's First Amendment free speech defense at trial

"When Trump was tweeting crazy allegations about the election, was that a direct attempt to convince anyone to act unlawfully?" Ritter said.

Despite the "daunting" prospect of prosecuting 19 defendants accused of crimes across several states, civil rights attorney V. James DeSimone said Willis' office made the right decision in charging all the suspects together in order to try and prove how widespread the alleged election interference conspiracy was.

"Despite its breadth and the naming of numerous co-conspirators, Georgia's indictment is nevertheless focused on the interference with its state elections, the oath of those in office and the established protocol for the election of the electoral voters," DeSimone told Newsweek.

In a post in Truth Social after the Georgia charges were announced, Trump once again hit out at Willis and accused her probe of being politically motivated.

"So, the Witch Hunt continues! 19 people [indicted] tonight, including the former President of the United States, me, by an out of control and very corrupt District Attorney who campaigned and raised money on, 'I will get Trump,'" he added.

"And what about those Indictment Documents put out today, long before the Grand Jury even voted, and then quickly withdrawn? Sounds Rigged to me! Why didn't they Indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign. Witch Hunt!"