The Guardian reports that Fulton County prosecutors do not intend to offer Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, or Mark Meadows plea deals. Win or lose, Fani Willis's office intends to take those three to court over their misdeeds.
Purportedly, this decision has not been formally transmitted to the defense team and could change, but it paints a big red target on those three co-conspirators. The prosecutor's office is apparently still open to negotiating with other defendants, and earlier deals have provided some dramatic tapes being leaked.
The individuals seen as ineligible include Trump, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Aside from those three, the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis has opened plea talks or has left open the possibility of talks with the remaining co-defendants in the hope that they ultimately decide to become cooperating witnesses against the former president, the people said.
The previously unreported decision has not been communicated formally and could still change, for instance, if prosecutors shift strategy. But it signals who prosecutors consider their main targets, and how they want to wield the power of Georgia's racketeering statute to their advantage.
Trump's co-defendants have been fleeing the sinking ship. Crackpot lawyer John Eastman has been in the news flailing; claims he is worried about his wife's retirement funds being exhausted by his defense are very sad indeed.
The prosecutors on the Trump case appear convinced that they are close to gaining more cooperating witnesses. In recent weeks, one of the people said, prosecutors privately advised the judge to delay setting a trial date because some co-defendants may soon plead out, one of the people said.
On Monday, former Trump lawyer and co-defendant John Eastman asked the judge to allow him to go to trial separately from the former president, and earlier than the August 2024 trial date proposed by prosecutors. Eastman also asked for the final plea deal deadline to be moved forward.
The court filing from Eastman reflected the apparent trepidation among a growing number of Trump allies charged in Fulton county about standing trial alongside Trump as a major Rico ringleader, a prospect widely seen as detrimental to anyone other than Trump.
