Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after surrendering on the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Aug. 24, 2023.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
An Atlanta judge on Wednesday rejected a motion for separate trials for 2 co-defendants of Donald Trump, in a case where they’re accused with the previous president and 16 others of a criminal conspiracy in attempting to reverse Trump’s loss within the 2020 election in Georgia.
Judge Scott McAfee said that as of now, he plans to begin trial for Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell on Oct. 23. Each defendants, who had requested speedy trials of their cases, are attorneys.
McAfee left open the door — barely — to grant a request by prosecutors to carry a joint trial for Trump and the 18 co-defendants within the case.
“It appears like the state continues to be sticking to the position that each one these defendants should remain they usually want to handle a few of these removal issues,” McAfee said during a hearing in Fulton County Superior Court.
“I’m willing to listen to that. I remain very skeptical,” the judge said as he gave the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office time to submit a legal transient justifying the joint trial.
“But … I’m willing to listen to what you will have to say on it.”
Earlier within the hearing, a prosecutor told McAfee that holding a joint trial for Trump and the opposite defendants would take 4 months to finish, with testimony from potentially greater than 150 witnesses.
Lawyers for Chesebro and Powell had asked for separate trials for them by arguing that their alleged conduct that led to the criminal trials was not connected to one another.
Trump is individually charged in federal court in Washington with crimes related to his effort to reverse President Joe Biden’s win within the national presidential election in 2020.
Five other defendants within the Georgia case besides Chesebro and Powell have filed motions asking McAfee to sever their trials from those of co-defendants.
Several defendants have asked that their cases be transferred to federal district court in Georgia, amongst them former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
That is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
