This is a ready reference for what’s happening when and where in the legal whirlpool surrounding Trump and the motley collection of felons in his criminal disorganisation.
You can find the introduction to this tracker series here. This is the first update and our theme is ‘Georgia on my mind’ because that’s where all the action has taken place this week. It has also generated new legal dates for the 19 co-defendants in the RICO trial, hence this update. Refer to the mugshot album for snippets of information about each of them so you can get a feel for which crook is which.
As expected, the RICO gang are breaking up. All three of the fake electors in this first indictment have flipped, declaring that they were acting at Trump’s behest. So said David Shafer’s lawyer in a court filing last Monday. Shawn Still and Cathy Latham were quick to follow.
Shafer has also joined Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark in seeking to have their state-level cases moved to federal court, where their cases would be presided over by a federal judge.
Kenneth Chesebro thought it would be clever to request a speedy trial in the entirely false assumption that DA Fani Willis could not be ready so soon. How Cheesy came to rationalise his way to this decision is inexplicable. Consider the facts:
- DA Willis has spent two and a half years investigating this case and she is both conscientious and thorough at her job.
- The same DA Willis took 8 months to present her case to a special-purpose jury who were unanimous in their findings because Willis’s evidence was 100% convincing.
- She then used the special-purpose jury’s report to present her case again to a regular grand jury. In record time they voted unanimously to indict all 19 co-conspirators under a RICO umbrella.
DA Willis is more than ready for you, Ken Chesebro. In fact, within hours of Cheesy’s request, Fani proposed October 23 as the trial date for all 19 of them. Judge Scott McAfee agreed to that date but did not enforce it on all 19 co-defendants, just Cheesy.
However, Sidney Powell – aka the Kraken lady or Dr-Diet-Pepper-Powell – decided that she also wants a speedy trial. Her thinking? By all means, speculate but I’m not going there.
There’s now an addition to the Key that appeared in the introduction. Because the 19 RICO co-defendants have begun splitting into trial groups, those appearing together will be bracketed in the same group and their bracket number will appear on the calendar.
Cases are colour-coded to enable faster scanning for those who want to follow the progress of a particular case or to see at a glance how many different cases are packed into each month. The key not only allocates a colour to each case, it also provides a quick overview of all seven cases that are currently active and the prosecutors in charge of them.
We begin with the current month. The next major event is Judge Tanya Chutkan’s hearing on Monday to discuss the trial date. Special Counsel Jack Smith has proposed January 2, 2024, and Trump’s team suggested June 2026. Since Judge Chutkan has warned Trump that if he tries to intimidate witnesses or court officials she will bring forward the trial date, it could end up being sometime this year. My personal preference is for November which is currently blank. But back to this month…
Judge Scott McAfee agreed to the October 23 trial date and set two more dates for final filings for most pretrial motions and a pretrial hearing, ahead of October.
October is also the month in which New York AG Letitia James will take the Trump Organisation to court presided over by Judge Arthur Engoron.
As mentioned earlier, November remains blank but December currently has two events proposed for the same day. Trump’s team tried telling Judge Cannon that the Special Counsel was ‘disrespecting’ her by proposing jury selection for the Jan 6 trial on the same date as her evidentiary hearing. It’s nonsense of course and Jack Smith replied that he’d be happy to move his proposal to December 12 if Judge Chutkan agrees to a trial date in early January. (You may want to invest in eye drops to treat the amount of eye-rolling Trump and his fellow felons are going to cause you.)
It may be Winter in the US of A but January is going to be hotting up with one proposed date for a criminal trial followed by two definite civil trial dates. It should be noted that Trump is not required to attend civil trials so if a criminal trial is underway this month, the civil trials will not constitute a conflict.
The next trial date is set for March though DA Alvin Bragg has assured Jack Smith that he will request a change should the Special Counsel need that time for one of his trials.
There are two dates in May but since both were set by Trump ally, Aileen Cannon, I’m unwilling to feel any certainty about them. They are here for the record.
Keep a watchful eye out for updates, Zoomers!
Pictured in the feature image, from left to right:
Top: DA Alvin Bragg, DA Fani Willis, NY AG Letitia James, Special Counsel Jack Smith
Mid: Judge Aileen Cannon (stolen documents), Justice Arthur Engoron (Trump Org falsifying business records – Manhattan), Judge Juan Merchan (Trump Org fraudulent business practices – NY AG), Judge Lorna Scofield (Trump Org pyramid scheme – class action suit), Judge Scott McAfee (RICO case, Georgia), Judge Lewis Kaplan (E Jean Carroll’s second defamation suit), Judge Tanya Chutkan (Jan 6 case, DC)
If you see or hear of any firm or proposed dates, please let me know in the comments or on social media. You can find me on Twitter as @Mopshell, on Post and Mastodon as @michelle_elle, on Spoutible as @MichelleElle and Michelle Elle on Creative Sprints on Sunday, 4pm-7pm EST and Creative Sprints on Monday, 4pm-7pm EST.
Where are those calendars from? I’ve never seen calendars with Sunday as the last day of the week given it is the first day of the week. Are those what are used in courtrooms? Would explain why the court system is so screwed up.
This is the British layout which is also used in Australia. Each of the calendars used in the tracker was created by me from scratch. It gives me the flexibility to resize windows if I need to.
Your calendars are context specific, clear and logical. Well done. Liked that subtle ‘Georgia on my mind’ bit too. Your “… As expected, the RICO gang are breaking up. All three of the fake electors in this first indictment have flipped, declaring that they were acting at Trump’s behest…” shows that Trump’s crown does not, and never, sat on his head. It always rested on the commitment of his ginned-up enablers and brethren. By the looks of it, it’s slipping out of his sphere of influence and grasp, and capacities and abilities to protect it’s deluded lofty perch. That’s a good thing. Wonder what noise it’ll make when it finally hits rock bottom floor leve?
I am very grateful for your feedback! I set out to make this series of trackers the most user-friendly available in the media sphere but I cannot be sure I succeeded in that aim without the benefit of feedback.
Not sure what noise that tinny crown will make but I reckon its wearer will let out a roar of outrage and disbelief when the first verdict is “GUILTY!”
I suspect that the ones who request speedy trials will be disposed of quickly enough. I agree, that Fani Willis is probably completely prepared and the others will have a front row seat to view what their eventual fate will be.
I suspect that those defendants don’t fully appreciate just how legally sharp the legal fangs Fani Willis has at her disposal. It doesn’t take a sharp mind to see that, but then again these defendants are blinded by the hubris of their puffed-up arrogance, short tightness and desperation. They love their moment, but their moment is misjudged and terminal.
Agree 100%!
I think so too and as soon as this first trial is over, Judge McAfee will be ready to schedule the next one and he may not pay much heed to what the co-defendants want when choosing the next start date.
Thank you so much for this, Michelle. I predict that this and the updates will go viral.
We’ll help you out as best we can.
Thank you so much, Piren. I’m gratefully accepting all the help that comes my way. So far the folks at the political Black and Orange YouTube channel and the Creative Sprints community have been both informative and supportive.
It was one of my fellow Sprinters who suggested using the term ‘brackets’ for trial groups. Because of its sports connotations, we thought it brought a subtlely humorous aspect to tracking the RICO case. That then gave me the idea to add braces around them for emphasis. It’s a nice way to break up the information in a window.
Great, but it’s a bit like being handed a rubik cube that’s jacked up. I’m much more interested in following the convictions. I hope all this bureaucracy doesn’t do all this straining to produce a gnat, after all of us, over the past 8 years, have been forced to swallow a camel.
Convictions will come and they will be followed by sentencing.
But before then, I think there’s a better-than-good chance that NY AG Letitia James will shut down the Trump Organisation in October this year. That will mean no more money laundering through real estate and other businesses in the conglomerate.
It will not only shut off his main source of income but also the incomes of his eldest three children. As far as I know, Eric and Donikins Jr have no side businesses to fall back on so they’ll be stuffed. At the end of the trial, AG James is likely to recommend all of them for criminal charges too.