Trump refuses to plead guilty to the Georgia vote count in the presidential election
Former Republican President Donald Trump refused to plead guilty on August 31 in a criminal case suspected of overturning Georgia's vote count in the 2020 presidential election, and sought a separate trial in this case.
Trump and 19 other defendants were jointly charged with 41 charges related to organized crime such as extortion, while Trump was charged with 13 charges. On the same day, he submitted a document to the Fulton County High Court in Georgia announcing that he had "waived his formal appearance and pleaded not guilty to the charges in this case.".
This means that Trump will not appear in court next week and refuse to plead guilty like he did in the previous three criminal proceedings. Judge Scott McAfee originally arranged for Trump and all other defendants to be heard on September 6th. Trump surrendered himself to Georgia on August 24th, adding "black history" by retaining the first "suspect photo" of the President or former President of the United States.
According to the Associated Press, Georgia courts allow media to broadcast or film court footage. Trump expressed his refusal to plead guilty in advance, avoiding the situation where he was being questioned and broadcasted. McCarthy stated on August 31st that after the trial of the case, he plans to use the streaming channel provided by the Fulton County government to live stream the trial, while allowing media reporters to film on site.
In the 2020 presidential election, Trump received 26% of the vote in Fulton County. He lost to Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden in Georgia by less than 12000 votes.
On January 2, 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raphenspurg, stating that he wanted to "find" enough votes to overturn the losing election. Fulton County District Prosecutor Fanny Willis led the investigation for over two years using this phone call as a clue. After being approved by a grand jury, she filed a criminal lawsuit against Trump and others on August 14 this year.
The trial date for the Georgia General Election has not been determined yet. Willis previously proposed that the trial of 19 defendants in this case be held on March 4th next year, the day before the Republican Party's collective primaries in more than ten states, known as Super Tuesday.
However, some defendants proposed to have their case heard separately on October 23rd, which was approved by the judge. Willis subsequently applied for the other defendants to be tried on October 23rd. Trump also applied for a separate trial of his case on August 31st, citing insufficient time to prepare for the lawsuit.
The defendant has also applied to transfer the case to the Federal Court of Georgia for trial, but has not yet received a ruling from the judge.
According to the Associated Press, since the Georgia election charges were announced, there has been continuous pre-trial legal disputes surrounding this case, highlighting the complexity of having 19 defendants, including the former president, tried together, and indicating that future trials may be delayed due to judges handling different demands from defendants.
Despite being plagued by lawsuits, Trump remains the most popular presidential candidate within the Republican Party. Trump pleaded not guilty to all four criminal cases, accusing them of political enemies attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.