The judge tapped to preside over the racketeering case in Fulton County, Georgia, involving former President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants joined the Superior Court of Fulton County this year.
Judge Scott McAfee’s name was included in the 98-page indictment released late Monday night. Trump was indicted on 13 charges, including racketeering, related to the 2020 election.
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McAfee was appointed to the court by Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) this year after serving as inspector general in the Georgia Office of the State Inspector General, according to the county court’s website. He has experience as a prosecutor and in the county where the case resides, having served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia and a senior assistant district attorney in Fulton County in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit.
The Georgia judge will play a prominent role in the racketeering case, notably by picking the date when it will begin. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in a Monday night press conference she is seeking a trial “within the next six months,” but it will ultimately be McAfee’s decision. Trump has already slammed a proposal by special counsel Jack Smith in a separate case against him for that trial to begin early next year, stating it would interfere with the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
The Fulton County trial will surely raise McAfee’s profile, much as Judge Tanya Chutkan’s has been raised after it was announced she would oversee the Jan. 6 federal case into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Chutkan has received increased security after Trump called for her to recuse herself and alleged she was biased.
Monday’s indictment marks the fifth indictment across four criminal cases this year against the former president and current 2024 GOP front-runner. The 18 others named in the indictment include former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and attorney John Eastman.
Trump, in his first statement after the indictment was unsealed, referred to the case as a “Witch Hunt” and “rigged.” His campaign and attorneys expressed similar sentiments on Monday, both before and after the indictment was released.
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The former president has been indicted in three other jurisdictions this year. Trump was indicted in New York in March on charges related to the alleged falsification of business records, he was federally indicted in Florida for his alleged mishandling of classified documents in June, and he was federally indicted in Washington, D.C., earlier this month for charges related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump is the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary by a large margin. Most of his opponents in the Republican presidential primary have not addressed the latest Trump indictment. Winning the GOP nomination would likely lead to a 2020 election rematch against President Joe Biden, the front-runner on the Democratic side.
