DUNWOODY, Ga. — Former President Donald Trump could have a criminal trial pending in Fulton County when he runs again in 2024.
The timing surfaced as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis signaled that a possible indictment won’t come until midsummer of this year.
Many are wondering if a pending criminal trial could cripple Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy. Hardly, said one of Trump’s biggest Georgia boosters.
"I’ve always felt there’s unfinished (policy) business," Dunwoody businessman Bruce LeVell said.
LeVell led Donald Trump’s minority voter engagement effort in 2016. He’s been to Trump’s Florida resort, flown on Trump’s private plane and sat with Trump during a college football championship game at Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Unlike Trump, Levell has never claimed the 2020 election was "rigged" or "bogus." He does think Trump is blamed unfairly for the Jan. 6 insurrection.
And LeVell said Trump is the GOP frontrunner next year.
"The answer to your question, yeah he is by far the best (candidate)," LeVell said Tuesday.
When asked if Trump's indictment would serve as background noise, LeVell doubled down on his stance, believing that a possible indictment against the former president wouldn't deter voters.
"That’s all it’s going to be. There’s nothing. And she knows it," LeVell said.
“She” is Fani Willis, the district attorney who convened a special grand jury to examine whether, among other things, Trump broke the law with a phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking him to find the votes to flip Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory in Georgia to Trump.
"There’s nothing wrong with that type of phone call," LeVell said, citing first amendments rights of free speech.
"To make a phone call and to say to a secretary of state, 'Hey, I think you need to look at your state – I think there’s more votes out there.' You can agree to disagree that’s our first amendment whether it’s a president. You and I could do that. There’s nothing wrong with that type of phone call," LeVell said.
Despite a poll showing that a small amount of Republicans don't want anything to do with Trump, LeVell remained firm in his stance.
"Well they said that back (in 2016) so it’s kind of like déjà vu. I’m used to this," LeVell said.
Levell notes that Trump faced a strong Republican field in the 2016 primaries and beat them handily. 2024, he predicts, will be no different.