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Former President Donald Trump has asked an Atlanta judge to detach his case from two of his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference indictment who want their trials to begin in late October, new court filings show.
The 77-year-old’s legal team moved on Thursday for separate proceedings after Trump pleaded not guilty to all 13 counts against him. Former campaign lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell have already asked for their trials to get underway Oct. 23, citing the Peach State’s right to a rapid proceeding.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis responded to Chesebro and Powell’s request by asking to try all 19 defendants at that time.
Attorney Steven Sadow argued an October trial would interfere with his scheduled arguments in a late-September Medicare fraud trial in Florida federal court.
The lawyer also said under two months was not enough time to prepare a legal defense against the 98-page, 41-count indictment handed up Aug. 14 by a grand jury convened by Willis.
If a speedy trial is granted, Sadow added, rules requiring prosecutors to share certain evidence with the defendants at least 10 days before the trial date would be waived, as would a requirement that the accused be notified at least a week before the proceedings are scheduled to start.
The defendants would also be precluded from calling witnesses whose statements were not given to prosecutors at least 10 days in advance of trial.
“The State is entitled to a fair trial as well as the Defense,” Sadow wrote in his Aug. 30 motion. “By filing a statutory speedy trial demand, the Defendants elected to proceed to trial without the benefit of the type of prior notice of the State’s discovery and similar transaction evidence that would have otherwise been afforded to them.”
What we know about Trump and the 18 others charged in the Georgia 2020 election probe
Donald Trump
- Former president of the United States
- Faces 13 charges related to allegedly lying about election tampering involving the 2020 presidential race in Georgia and repeatedly trying to get state officials to violate their oaths and claim there was voter fraud.
Rudy Giuliani
- Ex-New York City mayor and former federal prosecutor-turned-Trump lawyer
- Faces 13 charges for leading Trump’s election challenges while allegedly conspiring to commit crimes while impersonating a public officer and filing false documents.
Mark Meadows
- Ex-White House chief of staff
- Faces two charges over arranging a Jan. 2 call by Trump to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to try to reverse the state’s election results, after a Dec. 23 call by Trump to Frances Watson, chief investigator for the Georgia secretary of state, to do the same thing.
John Eastman
- Trump lawyer
- Faces nine charges for urging then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject Biden electors, claiming in a court filing that about 72,000 people illegally voted in Georgia and speaking at a rally before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to disrupt certification of the election.
Jeffrey Clark
- Ex-acting assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division
- Faces two charges over writing a late December document allegedly falsely claiming the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the State of Georgia.”
Kenneth Chesebro
- Trump lawyer
- Faces seven charges including for planning for alternate electors to allegedly try to thwart the election results.
Sidney Powell
- Trump lawyer
- Faces seven charges including computer theft, invasion of privacy and efforts to defraud the state after making voter-machine fraud claims and trying to access voter files.
Jenna Ellis
- Trump lawyer
- Faces two charges including for allegedly soliciting a public officer to violate their oath by pressuring state senators to support alternate electors for Trump while falsely claiming election fraud.
Ray Smith
- Trump lawyer
- Faces 12 charges including for allegedly conspiring to supporter the alternate slate of electors and pressuring officials while helping to lead Trump’s Georgia election challenges.
Mike Roman
- Trump campaign aide
- Faces seven charges including for allegedly conspiring to support the alternate electors and committing fraud while working on the plan.
Trevian Kutti
- Ex-Kanye West publicist
- Faces three charges including for allegedly soliciting false statements by meeting with election worker Ruby Freeman for one hour to pressure her to admit to ballot-stuffing at a vote-counting center.
Harrison Floyd
- Ex-executive director of Black Voices for Trump
- Faces three charges including for alleged conspiracy to solicit false statements by helping Kutti to pressure Freeman, including by allegedly saying her safety was at risk and offering protection.
Stephen Lee
- Illinois pastor
- Faces five charges including for allegedly attempting to influence witnesses and solicit false statements by pressuring Freeman, including traveling to her home and speaking with a neighbor.
Robert Cheeley
- Georgia lawyer
- Faces 10 charges including perjury and conspiring to impersonate a public officer when presenting alleged fraud evidence to legislators.
Misty Hampton
- Ex-official in Coffee County, Georgia
- Faces seven charges including conspiring to commit election fraud, computer theft and invasion of privacy after falsely alleging voter-machine fraud.
Scott Hall
- Bail bondsman
- Faces seven charges for being involved in the Coffee County voter-machine fraud claims.
Cathy Latham
- One of 16 alternate Georgia electors for Trump
- Faces 11 charges including for impersonating a public officer, forgery and lying in a deposition about her role in pressing voter-fraud claims in Coffee County.
David Shafer
- One of 16 alternate Georgia electors for Trump
- Faces eight charges including for impersonating a public officer, forgery and lying about his role in convening the alternate electors for a meeting Dec. 14.
Shawn Still
- One of 16 alternate Georgia electors for Trump
- Faces seven charges including for impersonating a public officer, forgery and lying to state senators to falsely claim that two state officials confided there was widespread fraud.
“Similarly, that decision also cost the Defendants the use to any evidence not timely served upon the State,” he said. “Should the Defendants in this case desire to proceed to trial under these circumstances, then they should be required to confirm it, personally and on the record, prior to trial.”
Trump faces charges under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as conspiracy, false statements and asking a public official to violate their oath of office.
Chesebro and Powell each face seven counts for allegedly planning to introduce a slate of fake electors to cast the Peach State’s votes for Trump, computer theft, invasion of privacy, making false statements about voter-machine fraud and trying to access voter files, among others.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has separately petitioned for his case to be moved to federal court, with a ruling expected later this week.
Meadows, 64, argued during a Monday hearing that his actions were in line with his executive branch duties at the time and thus should be resolved at the federal level. He faces a RICO charge and a charge of asking an official to break their oath of office.
The former White House chief of staff participated in a now-infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the former president asked officials to “find 11,870 votes” for him to win the state.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set a Sept. 6 arraignment hearing for all 19 co-defendants — four of whom, including Trump, had already pleaded not guilty and waived their right to appear in-person.