Trump pleads not guilty but turns down another day in court
The former president had been due to appear at the Fulton county court in Atlanta on Wednesday to be arraigned in the case.
Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 13 charges of conspiring to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, waiving his right to enter a plea in person.
The former president had been due to appear at the Fulton County court in Atlanta on Wednesday to be arraigned in the case. Along with 18 others he has been accused of attempting to subvert the will of Georgia’s voters and of trying to persuade officials to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Instead Mr Trump, 77, filed paperwork on Thursday (Friday AEST) in which he pleaded not guilty to each of the charges, and “freely and voluntarily” waived his right to be present at his arraignment and have his charges read to him in open court.
Several co-defendants had already signed waivers, saving them a trip to the court. Mr Trump had travelled to Georgia on August 24 to turn himself in at the Fulton County jail, where he became the first former president to have a mugshot taken.
The decision will deprive Mr Trump of the opportunity to cast himself as the victim in a case he claims is part of a political witch-hunt. The trial is due to start on March 4, a date he has vowed to appeal.
Meanwhile, he can turn his attention to the 2024 election. Mr Trump is due to speak at a Republican event in South Dakota on Friday.
The case in Georgia is one of four criminal cases, at state and federal level, in which he has been charged with a total of 91 offences. He is the only former president ever to be charged as part of a criminal investigation.
In the Georgia case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has charged Mr Trump with 13 felonies including racketeering, pressuring state officials to reverse his 2020 election loss and allegedly setting up a fake slate of electors to undermine the congressional certification of Mr Biden’s victory.
Mr Trump is also facing several civil cases. In one, in New York, the state’s Attorney-General has accused him of overstating his wealth by as much as $US2.2bn. Letitia James, a Democrat, says Mr Trump “grossly inflated” his wealth “to secure and maintain loans and insurance on more favourable terms”.
The accusation is part of a $US250m civil case. Mr Trump and his eldest children are also accused of deflating the value of assets held by their sprawling property and licensing empire, known as the Trump Organisation, to reduce the company’s tax burden. Mr Trump’s lawyers responded by releasing the transcript of his deposition by Ms James this year.
He was questioned for seven hours by Ms James in April, during which he told her she had done “a terrible thing” and should “drop” the lawsuit. “So many things I did for this city … and now I have to come and justify myself to you,” he said.
Mr Trump was asked if he was the “ultimate decision-making authority for the Trump Organisation”. He claimed he had stepped back from the company because he had been “very busy” throughout his presidency.
In January, the Trump Organisation was fined $US1.6m by a New York judge in a criminal tax and financial fraud case.
The Times
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