ATLANTA (AP) Putting 19 people on trial at the same time is a difficult assignment for any prosecutor whether or not one of those defendants is a former president of the United States running to reclaim his old office .

The sprawling racketeering indictment returned this week by a grand jury in Atlanta presents a wide range of challenges. A big one is political: Finding jurors who dont have unshakeable opinions about Donald Trump and others in his orbit.

Beyond that, with so many defendants, prosecutors and defense lawyers will labor to keep the names and conflicting stories straight for those jurors over weeks or months. There will be countless legal details and basic logistics to argue or work out even down to finding a courtroom big enough to fit everyone.

In an early example of the lengthy litigation ahead, lawyers for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows filed a quick motion Tuesday to transfer the case from state to federal court. They said all the actions he took were in service to his White House role, foreshadowing an argument that the Constitution makes him immune from prosecution.

Trump himself tried a similar tack in New York to move to federal court a state case charging him with falsifying business records. That bid was denied.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has brought 10 other state racketeering cases since taking office in January 2021. As an assistant D.A., she used the racketeering law to successfully prosecute Atlanta public school educators in a test-cheating scandal. But in one of Willis current cases, involving the rapper Young Thug , jury selection began in January and is still going more than seven months later.

This is bigger, unprecedented. Her office now takes on the huge challenge of pursuing 13 felony counts against a former president who is fighting three other criminal cases and leading the Republican field in the fight for the 2024 presidential nomination.

Just because they have experience with it doesnt mean that its easy, said Robert James, a former district attorney in neighboring DeKalb County whos now a defense attorney. Its going to be slow, its going to be methodical, laborious.

After investigating for more than two years, Willis used Georgias racketeering law to charge Trump and 18 of his allies, alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy to keep him in power after his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden . Lawyers, aides and Republican Party activists are accused along with the former president.

Several of the defendants on Tuesday accused Willis of playing politics with the indictment.

The Democrats and the Fulton County D.A. are criminalizing the practice of law, one of the defendants, lawyer Jenna Ellis, wrote Tuesday on Facebook . I am resolved to trust the Lord and I will simply continue to honor, praise, and serve Him. I deeply appreciate all of my friends who have reached out offering encouragement and support.

Trump said he would release a report next Monday that would demonstrate irrefutable election fraud in Georgia, despite years of investigations and lawsuits not producing such evidence. Responded Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican: The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen. For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward under oath and prove anything in a court of law.

In the indictment, Willis used Georgias Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to weave a complex narrative that implicates multiple people accused of committing separate crimes in pursuit of a common goal. Some of the actions alleged are not necessarily crimes in themselves but are portrayed as helping to further an overall illegal scheme.