Trump pleads not guilty to Georgia election subversion charges (updated)

WaFd

31/08/2023 16:25

(Adds indictment details, co-defendant pleas, paragraphs 4-9)
    By Kanishka Singh
       Aug 31 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump
pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a wide-ranging Georgia
criminal indictment related to his attempts to overturn his 2020
election defeat.
    "As evidenced by my signature below, I do hereby waive
formal arraignment and enter my plea of NOT GUILTY to the
Indictment in this case," Trump said in a court filing in 
Fulton County Superior Court.        
    The plea means that Trump, the front-runner for the 2024
Republican nomination, will not appear in person in court next
week to face the charges.
    An indictment accuses Trump of 13 felony counts, including
racketeering, for pressuring state officials to reverse his 2020
election loss and allegedly setting up a fake slate of electors
to undermine the congressional certification of Democratic
President Joe Biden's victory.
    Fulton County prosecutors seek an October start to the
trial. Some of Trump's co-defendants in Georgia, including
attorney Sidney Powell, Trevian Kutti and Ray Smith, have also
waived formal arraignment and entered not guilty pleas.
    The 98-page Georgia indictment filed in mid-August charges
Trump and 18 other defendants with a total of 41 criminal
counts.
    The Georgia case is Trump's fourth indictment. He faces a
New York state trial in March involving a hush money payment to
a porn star and a federal trial in May in Florida for allegedly
mishandling federal classified documents. 
    Another indictment, in Washington federal court, accuses him
of illegally seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Trump
is due to stand trial in March 2024 for that case, one day
before Republican voters in more than a dozen U.S. states decide
whether to give him a chance to recapture the White House.
    Trump has pleaded not guilty in all criminal cases and could
spend much of next year in court, even as he campaigns to retake
the White House.

 (Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Scott Malone and
Howard Goller)
 ((Kanishka.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +12024508248;))