Trump Enters Not Guilty Plea in Georgia Election Case
According to a new court filing, former U.S. President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty in the expansive Fulton County election interference case.
Trump was slated to be personally arraigned on Wednesday. The law of Georgia permits criminal defendants to waive their appearance in court and submit a formal plea through court documents.
His arraignment represents the fourth time since leaving office that Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges.
In this instance, Trump is charged with racketeering for allegedly attempting to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Several of the former president’s co-defendants, including Sidney Powell and Trevian Kutti, have waived their court appearances and pleaded not guilty.
Defendants who do not waive their appearance will appear in court on September 6, as scheduled.
Although no official date has been set for Trump’s trial in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, has asked the magistrate overseeing the case to schedule a trial for all 19 defendants on October 23, 2023.
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In response, Trump’s attorneys stated their opposition to the proposed date and foresaw the possibility of pre-trial disputes that would prolong the proceedings.
Several co-defendants, including his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, have requested that their cases be transferred from Georgia state court to federal court, a more advantageous legal venue that would also have the effect of delaying the proceedings.
Trump faces more than a dozen charges, some of which involve efforts to present fake electors to fraudulently claim that he won Georgia in 2020.
Last week, he turned himself in and consented to a $200,000 bond and other release conditions, including a prohibition on using social media to target co-defendants and witnesses in the case.
Additionally, he has been indicted in three other cases: one involving a 2016 hush-money payment to an adult film actress in Manhattan, another involving the alleged mismanagement of classified national defense documents, and a third involving efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump Enters Not Guilty Plea in Georgia Election Case
