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Trump Pleads Not Guilty to Georgia Racketeering Charges, Asks to Sever Case from Co-Defendants

HeadlineSep 01, 2023

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 13 felony charges over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. Trump also requested his case be tried separately from his 18 co-defendants. Trump’s legal team argued an October 23 start date for the trial did not leave enough time to prepare, while some of his co-defendants have asked for a speedy trial. Meanwhile, the release date for the Fulton County grand jury’s final report is set for September 8. A judge said Trump’s Georgia trial will be televised and live-streamed.

In related news, Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp dismissed calls to launch impeachment proceedings against Fulton County DA Fani Willis, who brought the racketeering case.

One of Trump’s Georgia co-defendants, lawyer John Eastman, appeared on Fox News this week, where he admitted to pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to delay certification of the election.

John Eastman: “I explicitly told Vice President Pence in the Oval Office on January 4th that even though it was an open issue, under the circumstances we had, I thought it was the weaker argument, and it would be foolish to exercise such power even if he had it. What I recommended — and I’ve said this repeatedly — is that he accede to requests from more than a hundred state legislators in the swing states to give them a week to try and sort out the impact of what everybody acknowledged was illegality in the conduct of the election.”

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