The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s prosecution in Georgia is making haste to see that the Republican leader is quickly arraigned on charges that he allegedly conspired with 18 other individuals to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
Court docket paperwork filed Monday indicates that President Trump will be arraigned on September 6th in Atlanta along with his former attorney Rudy Giuliani who last week surrendered to authorities on similar charges. On that date, President Trump must appear at 9:30 AM EST in Fulton County District Court and enter a plea to the 13 felony counts he is facing. Giuliani will appear at 9:45 AM.
Trump, Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and 16 others have been indicted for allegedly pressuring Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and state election officials to certify a slate of alternate electors that would be recognized by Congress based on the 2020 election. All individuals so far have pleaded not guilty.
In the days since his indictment, attorneys for the former president have called the case “desperation at its best” and characterized Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as a Democrat intent on playing politics with the case. President Trump has attacked Willis’s credibility by insinuating she carried on an affair with a gang leader she later prosecuted.
An outpouring of support for President Trump has come from surprising corners as shown last week when throngs of Black residents lined the streets of Fulton County and said Trump is innocent of the charges. Post-indictment polls show the GOP leader still dominating the party’s field, and he remains the favorite to defeat President Joe Biden in next year’s election.
To get to the general election, however, President Trump will need to overcome at least four criminal indictments, two of which relate to the 2020 election. Trump and his defenders have characterized all four prosecutions as run by Democrats or the Biden Justice Department and being ripe with political interference while prosecutors in Georgia, Manhattan, and Washington, D.C. have maintained they are following the facts. House Republicans and a Republican lawmaker in Georgia are pursuing separate investigations of DA Willis, the latter of which may lead to impeachment.
Steven Sadow, Trump’s attorney in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Georgia arraignment date.