Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday and said he would skip a hearing next week in the case in which he and others are accused of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had scheduled arraignment hearings for September for Trump and the 18 others charged in the case. 6. A court requesting a waiver of indictment means Trump does not have to appear for it.
The decision to forego an in-person appearance avoids the dramatic arrests that accompanied Trump’s three other criminal trials, in which the former Republican president was forced into a courtroom under tight security and pleaded not guilty in front of a crowd of onlookers. acquaintance . Georgia courts have fairly permissive rules regarding news cameras in the courtroom, and this move means Trump won’t have to enter a plea on television.
Trump and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a 41-count indictment that lays out an alleged plan to undermine the will of voters in Georgia, who chose Democrat Joe Biden over the incumbent Republican in the presidential election.
Several other defendants in the indictment had already waived arraignment in documents filed with the court, thereby avoiding a trip to the courthouse in downtown Atlanta. Trump traveled to Georgia on August 24 to report to the Fulton County Jail, where he became the first former president to have a mugshot taken.
The case, filed under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), is sprawling and the logistics of bringing it to trial are likely to be complicated. Legal action in the case has already begun.
At least two defendants have made demands for a speedy trial and asked to be tried separately from the others in the case. The judge set the trial date for one of them, Kenneth Chesebro, for October 23. He is a lawyer who worked to coordinate and implement a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely claiming that Trump won the state and declaring themselves statesmen “duly elected and qualified” voters.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she wanted all defendants tried together and she asked the judge to set a trial date for all of them on Oct. 23.
Trump’s attorney, Steve Sadow, said in court filings that he objects to that date and plans to file a motion to separate Trump’s case from that of anyone filing a speedy trial lawsuit.
Some of the other defendants are trying to take their cases to federal court. On Monday, a judge heard arguments on such a request from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, but the judge did not immediately rule.
Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has criticized the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to stop him from winning back the White House.
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