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re: Mark Meadows John Eastman Jeffrey Clark & All Others Plead Not Guilty in Georgia
TRUMP Pleads NOT Guilty in Georgia Election FRAUD Case
TRUMP is Waiving The Right to Appear in Court Next Week.
TRUMP Co-Defendant Rudy Giuliani Pleads NOT Guilty in Georgia Case
TRUMPS' Personal Lawyer Rudy Giuliani And Six Other Co-Conspirators Have Pleaded NOT Guilty to State Charges in Georgia.
BBC 2 SEP 2023
Trump is among 19 people charged with a conspiracy to overturn the US state's 2020 vote results.
He turned himself in at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta last week, where he had his mugshot taken.
In total, Trump faces 13 felony counts - including racketeering - for allegedly pressuring Georgia officials to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state.
In a court document filed on Thursday, Trump said he "fully understands" the nature of the allegations and his right to appear in court.
"Understanding my rights, I do hereby freely and voluntarily waive my right to be present at my arraignment on the indictment and my right to have it read to me in open court," the signed document says.
Trump, the current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has appeared at each of his three previous arraignments.
He was required to do so for the cases he is facing in New York and Florida, and opted not to request a virtual appearance for a separate case in Washington DC.
In all three cases, there was tight security as Trump supporters and counter-protesters gathered near the courthouses.
Trump surrendered and was arraigned simultaneously in his federal court cases, which led to his high-profile courtroom appearances. However, in Georgia state court, a defendants' surrender and arraignment usually happen separately.
Donald Trump: "I just want to find 11,780 votes"
Brian Tevis, an Atlanta attorney who represents one of Mr Trump's co-accused, Rudy Giuliani, told CBS, the BBC's US partner, that "99% of the time" defendants who are given the option choose to waive their arraignment.
Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University, said that decision is "usually non-controversial".
"Trump fully knows the charges against him," he said. "That's the main purpose of the arraignment, to read the charges to the accused, and [to enter] the person's plea. So he doesn't need to be there, he knows what they are."
Earlier this week, three other co-defendants in the case entered not guilty pleas, including former Trump attorneys Ray Stallings Smith and Sidney Powell, as well as former celebrity publicist Trevian Kutti.
Trump was originally due to be arraigned on 6 September, followed by the other defendants in 15-minute intervals.
All 19 defendants in the case - including Trump - are charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, commonly known as the Rico act.
Across the US and at the federal level, Rico laws are used to help prosecutors connect underlings who broke the law with those who gave orders or organised the crime.
Fulton County's District Attorney, Fani Willis, a Democrat, has increasingly come under fire from some Republicans and Trump allies for her decision to indict Mr Trump in the case.
Earlier in August, State Senator Colton Moore sent a letter to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a fellow Republican, calling for a special session to impeach Ms Willis.
At a Thursday news conference, Mr Kemp said he had yet to see evidence that such a move would be justified.
"As long as I am governor, we're going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically," the governor said.
All court proceedings against Trump and the 18 co-defendants in Georgia will be televised and broadcast on YouTube, a Fulton County judge ruled on Thursday.
Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani is charged with 13 crimes related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.
He joins Trump and several other co-defendants in entering not guilty pleas, waiving their right to appear in person for a hearing next week.
All 19 have been allowed to go free pending trial after paying a bail bond.
On Thursday, the judge overseeing Mr Trump's case announced that the trial will be streamed on YouTube.
A date for the trial has not yet been set, but it could be next year, in the middle of the former president's run for re-election.
The next court date is an arraignment on Wednesday, a short hearing at which the plea is officially entered in court.
Trump and the other alleged co-conspirators briefly travelled to Atlanta last week to turn themselves in at Fulton County Jail and have their mugshots taken.
All 19 defendants in the case - including Donald Trump - are charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, commonly known as the Rico act.
Across the US and at the federal level, Rico laws are used to help prosecutors connect underlings who broke the law with those who gave orders or organised the crime.
They have denied any wrongdoing.
After surrendering to authorities in Georgia last week, Mr Giuliani, who was the mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001, stood outside the jail and called the prosecution "a travesty".
"I am very, very honoured to be involved in this case, because this case is a fight for our way of life," he said.
Other suspects who have entered not guilty pleas include Ken Chesebro; the alleged architect of the fake electors scheme who has petitioned the court for a speedy trial; and lawyers Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis.
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