Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is set to hold his first hearing Wednesday in the Georgia election subversion case against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants.
And in a first for cases against the former president, Wednesday afternoon’s court proceedings are expected to be televised and streamed.
In a court filing, McAfee said that he will ask prosecutors for a “good-faith estimate of the time reasonably anticipated to present the State’s case during a joint trial of all 19 co-defendants,” including how many witnesses are likely to be called and how many exhibits prosecutors may present.
He is also set to consider motions from former Trump attorney Sidney Powell and pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to sever themselves from the other defendants in the case.
Trump and 18 of his allies were charged last month in a sprawling indictment accusing them of creating a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results. The former president himself faces 13 felony charges, including violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer and numerous conspiracy charges. The RICO charge carries a minimum of five years in prison.
All 19 defendants pleaded not guilty and waived their right to an in-person arraignment. Powell and Chesebro filed demands for a speedy trial; Trump’s attorneys have asked that the former president be tried separately from anyone who asked for a speedy trial, while two other defendants have also asked for their cases to be severed.
Powell, who faces 7 charges including violating the state’s RICO Act, conspiracy to defraud the state and conspiracy to commit election fraud, filed a motion last month claiming that she “has no substantive connection” with any of the other defendants and asserting that she “can receive a fair trial only if she is tried alone.”
“Contrary to widely publicized false statements in the media, Sidney Powell did not represent President Trump or the Trump campaign,” the filing reads.
Attorneys for Cheseboro, meanwhile, said in their filing that their client does not want to be tried alongside Powell, saying that the accusations against him are unrelated to the charges against her.
“Entirely separate, and completely unrelated from the allegations levied against Mr. Chesebro, the allegations related to Ms. Powell center around her alleged belief, and alleged work in furtherance of that belief, that voting machines were erroneously tabulating votes,” the filing reads.
“In order to achieve a fair determination of the guilt or innocence of Mr. Chesebro, he must be severed from the trial,” the filing continues. “The fact that Mr. Chesebro is implicated with Ms. Powell will inextricably link them together and has the potential to cause a tremendous prejudice.”
After Chesebro filed his request for a speedy trial, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked for an Oct. 23 trial date for all of the defendants. Willis wants to keep the case together, though Trump and several of his co-defendants have objected to that date and asked for the trial to begin later.
Chesebro this week also filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him, citing the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
He’s accused of working on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate declaring falsely that Trump won and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. Chesebro argues that his actions fall under federal authority and that the Supremacy Clause means he can’t be prosecuted under state law for those actions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
