Judge extends deadline for naming new prosecutor in Georgia election interference case
A judge on Wednesday extended the deadline for a replacement to be named in place of District Attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee extended the deadline to Nov. 14, after the group tasked with finding the replacement said they needed additional time, in part due to the case’s complexity.
McAfee’s original order gave the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia just 14 days to appoint a replacement.
The extension, which was shorter than the 90 days the council had asked for, came over the objection of at least some of the defendants.
“Enough is enough,” attorneys for defendant John Eastman wrote in a court filing, noting that the indictment was handed down “more than two years ago.”
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, October 7, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
The charges, which were brought following Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to win the state, allege that the defendants solicited state leaders throughout the country, harassed and misled a Georgia election worker, and pushed phony claims that the election was stolen, all in an effort for Trump to remain in power despite his election loss.
The selection of a new prosecutor fell to the council after the Georgia Supreme Court last month declined to take up Willis’ appeal of her removal from the case, nearly two years after she was first accused of misconduct by defendant Michael Roman over her relationship with one of the prosecutors on the case.
While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the president may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, there are over a dozen other defendants charged in the case — including a number of the president’s current and former allies, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows.