The Republican’s former Chief of Staff during his presidency claimed not to be responsible for the charges against him for being part of a plan to try to overturn the results of the Georgia state elections in 2020. Along with Meadows and Donald Trump himself, 17 others involved waived the arraignment hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
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This Tuesday, September 5, Mark Meadows, who was the White House chief of staff during Donald Trump’s term, decided to plead not guilty to the charges that involved him in the irregular manipulation of the results in the state of Georgia in 2020 as part of an illegal plan, simultaneously with lawyer John Eastman and former member of the Department of Justice, Jeffrey Clark.
As a result, he will not appear in court in Atlanta this week. The indictment indicates that he was a key participant in creating a conspiracy with false statements and developing a plan to delay the certification of electoral votes by Congress on January 6, 2021.
He also accuses Meadows of pressuring, along with Trump, the Georgian Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to reverse the electoral defeat in Georgia, and of harassing Frances Watson – chief investigator of the secretary of state’s office. State of Georgia – to speed up signature verification in Fulton County.
Throughout Tuesday, like Meadows and Trump, 17 other denounced people presented documents disclaiming responsibility in court and waived their rights at an arraignment hearing. Even Meadows and four others involved aim to take their cases to federal court.
As scheduled, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee will lead an arraignment hearing this Wednesday, at which time the 19 defendants could present a formal statement, a right they have waived after pleading not guilty.
In Wednesday’s session, McAfee will press prosecutors to clarify how long it will take to decide whether to present their case against the 19 defendants, whether they will do it all together or whether they will segment them into groups. In addition, they will also ask for the number of witnesses they will call, the number and size of evidence they could present.
For their part, the accused lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell raised a request for speedy trials, which should begin in early November, and for each one to be tried individually, a motion that will be answered on Wednesday.
In addition, Fulton prosecutor Fani Willis asked McAfee to schedule the trial against all the defendants for next October 23, a date for which the start is set only for Chesebro, who is suspected of working in the coordination and execution of a scheme to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely declaring Trump’s victory.
Chesebro insists that these actions are within the jurisdiction of the federal authority and that the supremacy clause of the Constitution prevents him from being prosecuted by a state law.
The Georgia case is the fourth that falls on Trump since he launched his presidential re-election campaign in November of last year. However, the magnate’s popularity continues to rise and he is the best option to prevail within the Republican party.
With EFE, Reuters and AP
Source: France 24
