Trump pleads not guilty in Georgia election case
Rachel Schilke
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Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to sweeping charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn Georgia‘s 2020 election results.
Trump wrote in a court filing that he is voluntarily waiving his arraignment and entering a plea of not guilty in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘s investigation into alleged subversion efforts.
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The former president and his 18 co-defendants are facing several charges, including violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Their arraignments were scheduled for Sept. 6, each lasting 15 minutes. Before he waived it, Trump’s arraignment was set for 9:30 a.m.
Willis asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case, to expedite the trial for “all 19 defendants” to Oct. 23, 2023. Her request came days after co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro made demands for a speedy trial, so McAfee severed Chesebro’s case from the other 18 co-defendants. The date was set for the end of October.
Sidney Powell, another co-defendant, filed demands for a speedy trial last week. Separately, five other defendants are trying to have their cases moved from state to federal court, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
On Tuesday, the district attorney argued any attempts to be tried separately are “improper at this juncture” and requested that Chesebro and other defendants who have filed for a speedy trial have a trial scheduled on the Oct. 23 date.
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Trump and the other co-defendants turned themselves in to Fulton County Jail last week. The former president was released on a $200,000 bond and took a mug shot, a first for Trump compared to his three other criminal cases.
The former president is facing criminal charges at the state level in Manhattan, New York, and two federal cases for his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
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