Fulton County prosecutors don’t intend to offer plea deals to Donald Trump and two other high-level co-defendantsm in their cases in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, the Guardian reports. The prosecutors prefer to force them to trial.
Prosecutors could still shift strategy, as they decide how to wield the power of Georgia’s racketeering statute to their advantage. But at this point, the individuals seen as ineligible include Trump, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani. For other co-defendants, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has opened plea talks or has left open the possibility of talks, in the hope that they ultimately decide to become cooperating witnesses against higher-profile defendants.
In August, Trump and 18 co-defendants originally pleaded not guilty to a sprawling indictment that charged them with violating the Rico statute in seeking to reverse his 2020 election defeat in the state, including by advancing fake Trump electors and breaching voting machines. In the weeks that followed, prosecutors reached plea deals in quick succession with former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro, as well as the local bail bondsman Scott Hall.