ATLANTA -- Former President Donald Trump pleaded innocent on Thursday and sought to sever his case from some other defendants who are accused along with him of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings on Sept. 6 for Trump and the 18 others charged in the case.
Trump's court filing entering an innocent plea also waived arraignment, meaning he won't have to show up for that.
The decision to skip an in-person appearance averts the dramatic arraignments that have accompanied the three other criminal cases Trump faces, in which the Republican former president has been forced amid tight security into a courtroom and entered "not guilty" pleas before crowds of spectators.
Georgia courts have fairly permissive rules on news cameras in the courtroom, and this means Trump won't have to enter a plea on television.
McAfee said Thursday that he planned to allow live-streaming of the trial on a Fulton County-provided YouTube channel.
"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," Trump stated in the filing.
That means Trump will not be returning to Atlanta next week to formally hear the charges approved by 23 jurors earlier last month.
Arraignments are when defendants appear before a judge for the first time to formally hear the charges against them and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. The process is designed, in part, to ensure the defendant knows his or her rights. Judges often set additional court dates at arraignments, such as deadlines for pretrial motions and a trial date.
In Georgia, defendants can waive arraignments. Trump's decision to do so was widely expected.
McAfee scheduled arraignments for all 19 defendants in the election interference case in 15-minute increments on Wednesday.
Most of the defendants, particularly those who live out of state, are expected to follow Trump's lead. Several, including Ray Smith, Sidney Powell and Trevian Kutti, have already waived their arraignments and pleaded innocent.
Trump and 18 others were charged earlier last month in a 41-count indictment that outlines an alleged scheme to subvert the will of Georgia voters who had chosen Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.
In asking for Trump's case to be severed from that of lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who has demanded a speedy trial, Trump's attorney Steve Sadow said that he is already committed to another two-to-three week trial taking place in Florida during that window and would also not have enough time to prepare.
Having less than two months to mount a defense against a 98-page indictment, charging 19 defendants, with 41 charges, "would violate President Trump's federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law," Sadow wrote.
Giving the former president less than two months to prepare a defense against a 98-page indictment would "violate President Trump's federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law," Sadow said in a court filing.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she wants all of the defendants tried together. After one defendant filed a demand for a speedy trial, she asked the judge to set an Oct. 23 trial date for everyone.
MOVING PIECES
Thursday's developments add to the pre-trial legal jousting that has dominated the two weeks since the indictment was brought, underscoring the complexities inherent in attempting to bring 19 defendants to trial at once -- including an ex-president -- and foreshadowing the delays ahead as judges sift through competing arguments from the defendants.
Jenna Ellis, an attorney whom prosecutors say was involved in efforts to persuade state lawmakers to unlawfully appoint presidential electors, also pleaded innocent and waived arraignment Thursday.
Three other people charged in the indictment had already waived arraignment in filings with the court, saving them repeat trips to Atlanta after they all surrendered at the Fulton County Jail last week. Trump surrendered at the jail on Aug. 24, where he became the first former president to have a mug shot taken.
Trump was indicted on 13 charges -- including racketeering, criminal solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy, false statements and writings and filing false documents -- in connection with his efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results.
Under the terms of Trump's bond agreement, he can't perform any acts of witness intimidation or communicate directly or indirectly about the facts of the case with any codefendants except through his lawyers.
He also can't make a "direct or indirect threat of any nature" against any witness or against the 30 unindicted co-conspirators named in the indictment. He also can make no threat "against the community or to any property in the community." And, likely in light of his highly critical posts on Truth Social, the above conditions "shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or re-posts of posts made by another individual on social media."
In the weeks ahead, the Fulton County district attorney's office will also be handing over its first batch of discovery documents to the 19 defendants.
In a recent court filing, Willis' office said it notified every defense attorney to provide a USB drive by Sept. 5 that is at least 2 terabytes -- large enough to store hundreds of thousands of documents -- for copying of the initial batch of discovery.
The case, filed under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, is sprawling, and the logistics of bringing it to trial are likely to be complicated.
At least two defendants have filed demands for a speedy trial and have asked to be tried separately from others in the case. The judge set an Oct. 23 trial date for Chesebro, a lawyer who prosecutors say worked on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely stating that Trump won the state and declaring themselves the state's "duly elected and qualified" electors.
Powell has also requested a speedy trial, although the judge has yet to set a date.
Some of the others charged are trying to move their cases to federal court. A judge on Monday heard arguments on such a request by 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 keep him from winning back the White House.
Information for this article was contributed by Kate Brumback, Sudhin Thanawala and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press and by Tamar Hallerman and Shannon McCaffrey of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS).
FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departure from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta. Trump has pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment in the case accusing him and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee presides over a hearing regarding media access in the case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Thursday, Aug, 31, 2023. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)