Trump entered a “not guilty” plea in the Georgia election meddling case on Thursday, waiving his right to appear at his arraignment in a Fulton County courthouse to hear the charges in-person on September 6.
He was indicted two days earlier with four criminal counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
He is one among 18 co-defendants charged with participating in a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the results of the November 2020 US presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden, in an attempt to keep Trump in power after January 20, 2021, when Biden was to be sworn in.
"Despite having lost, the defendant was determined to remain in power,” the indictment says of Trump. “So for more than two months following election day on Nov 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won.”
According to federal prosecutors, among those efforts was an attempt to change the election results in Georgia and deliver the Peach State’s 16 Electoral College votes to Trump, which they say violated the state’s racketeering laws.
However, Trump broke from his co-defendants on Thursday, filing a motion to separate his case “from those of his co-defendants who have demanded a speedy trial” and who have a trial date set on October 23, 2023.
The arraignment follows his surrender at Georgia’s Fulton County Jail last week and release on $200,000 bond on related charges. The highly anticipated mugshot, seen by Democrats as a moment of triumph, was successfully spun by Trump’s presidential campaign into a major fundraising event, netting the candidate more than $7 million in donations in the days that followed.
He also faces criminal allegations in three other cases: that he mishandled secret documents by storing them at his Mar-a-Lago estate; that he falsified business records to cover up a hush-money payment to an adult film actress ahead of his 2016 presidential run; and also that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election with the events that unfolded in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, when thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol and temporarily dispersed Congress.
Together, they total some 91 charges that could collectively yield more than 700 years in prison sentences.
Trump has denounced these as a “witch hunt” aimed at shutting down his challenge to US President Joe Biden in the November 2024 presidential election. While the Republican Primary race is far from over, Trump is the clear leader, with over half the GOP voting base favoring him over any other candidate. However, the US Department of Justice has maintained it has pursued the charges in good order.
“In November last, I appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to take on the ongoing investigation in order to underline the department's commitment to accountability and independence," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said last month. "Mr. Smith and his team of experienced, principled career agents and prosecutors have followed the facts and the law wherever they lead."