ATLANTA — Rudy Giuliani, who championed former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, pleaded not responsible Friday within the Georgia interference case.
Giuliani “waives formal arraignment, pleads NOT GUILTY to all pending prices” within the indictment, attorneys for the previous New York Metropolis mayor stated in a court docket submitting signed by Giuliani late Friday.
Each Giuliani and Trump, who pleaded not responsible Thursday, face 13 felony counts — essentially the most among the many 19 defendants within the sprawling case introduced by Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis.
Giuliani is charged with racketeering and conspiracy prices that embrace allegedly pressuring state officers to behave on his bogus election claims. He’s additionally accused of constructing false claims in sworn authorized filings.
Chatting with reporters final week after he was booked at Fulton County Jail, Giuliani maintained his innocence and stated the one factor he is responsible of was advocating for then-President Trump, who was his shopper on the time. “I’m being indicted as a result of I’m a lawyer,” Giuliani stated after he was launched on a $150,000 bond.
Many of the defendants within the case have now pleaded not responsible.
Kenneth Chesebro, the legal professional who helped concoct the authorized principle behind the so-called pretend electors scheme utilized by Trump and his allies, pleaded not responsible to racketeering and conspiracy prices within the case late Thursday.
In a submitting to the decide overseeing the felony case, Chesebro stated he was not responsible of the fees in opposition to him and waived his arraignment within the case, which, like Giuliani’s, had been scheduled for Sept. 6.
Trump equally on Thursday submitted a written not responsible plea and waived arraignment, which is allowed underneath Georgia legislation. Others who’ve finished so embrace former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Ray Smith, and Trevian Kutti, a publicist who’s represented Ye, the artist previously often called Kanye West.
Earlier Friday, Michael Roman, a former Trump White Home official who labored on his 2016 and 2020 campaigns and is accused of participating within the electors scheme, pleaded not responsible and waived his arraignment. Others who’ve pleaded not responsible embrace Stephen Lee and Harrison Floyd, who’re charged with making an attempt to get an election employee to make false statements, and Scott Corridor, accused of participating in a scheme to tamper with voting machines.
Additionally pleading not responsible was Robert Cheeley, an legal professional who prosecutors stated was concerned within the electors’ scheme after which lied about his involvement when he testified earlier than the particular grand jury in Fulton County that heard proof within the case.
Those that have but to enter a written plea and are nonetheless scheduled to be arraigned subsequent week.
Chesebro beforehand agreed to a $100,000 bond within the case.
The indictment prices that Chesebro authored a memo outlining a plan to have “alternate” presidential electors solid their votes for Trump in states that have been received by Joe Biden within the 2020 presidential election and helped set up the hassle in these states, together with Georgia.
He additionally despatched a co-defendant an e-mail on Jan. 1, 2021, that “outlined technique for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” the submitting stated.
Chesebro maintains he was merely sharing authorized recommendation and didn’t do something felony. He has requested a speedy trial within the case, which Fulton County Superior Court docket Decide Scott McAfee has signed off on and scheduled for Oct. 23.
Chesebro has additionally requested the decide to sever his case from the opposite co-defendants, a request which continues to be pending.
Willis’ workplace had requested the decide to make clear whether or not the Oct. 23 trial date applies to different defendants as nicely. In a ruling Friday, McAfee stated he would type out these points in spite of everything defendants are arraigned and he is thought of their varied severance motions.
Willis had requested the decide to elaborate due to a line in his order granting Chesebro’s request for a speedy trial, the place he wrote that “[a]t this time, these deadlines don’t apply to any co-defendant.”
The district legal professional’s workplace stated in a court docket submitting that it “maintains its place that severance is improper at this juncture and that each one Defendants ought to be tried collectively.”
Powell has additionally filed a request for a speedy trial. In a submitting Friday, Chesebro contended they need to be tried individually as a result of the fees in opposition to them are “fully separate, and fully unrelated.”
“The truth that Mr. Chesebro is implicated with Ms. Powell will inextricably hyperlink them collectively and has the potential to trigger an incredible prejudice,” the submitting says.
In a court docket submitting Thursday, Trump’s lawyer Steven Sadow stated the previous president opposes going to trial in October as a result of they’d “not have adequate time to organize President Trump’s case for trial.” Trump has stated the Georgia case and the three different felony trials he’s going through ought to be delayed till after the 2024 presidential election. These three instances have been scheduled to start out earlier than subsequent yr’s basic election.
Charlie Gile reported from Atlanta, Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.
This text was initially printed on NBCNews.com