First Hearing in Georgia 2020 Election Interference Trial Raises Questions and Uncertainty
Former President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One at Sacramento McClelland Airport in McClelland Park, Calif. on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, and departs en route to the CAL FIRE Hangar (Official Archived White House Photo by Shealah Craighead).
The 2020 election interference trial has begun in Fulton County, Georgia, but uncertainties about the timeline and design of the trial remain.
Article by Julia O’Keefe, Senior Election Correspondent
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - The first televised hearing for the 2020 election interference case against 19 defendants, including former President Trump, was held in Fulton County, Georgia on Wednesday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee.
Prosecutor Nathan Wade from the Fulton County district attorney’s office revealed a joint-trial between all defendants would take approximately four months and involve more than 150 witnesses, but no jury will be selected.
Despite Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s move to try all 19 defendants together, including former President Trump, McAfee remains wary of a speedy and joint trial. The trial is set to proceed in October.
Pro-Trump Defense attorneys of two defendants, Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, requested a speedy trial separate from the other defendants and each other, which McAfee denied despite his skepticism towards holding a joint trial with all defendants.
“It just seems a bit unrealistic that we can handle all 19 (defendants) in 40-something days,” McAfee said, according to CNN.
Chesebro and Powell are set for a joint-trial on October 23 without the other defendants, as McAfee believed their cases did not need to be separate in order to produce a fair verdict for either defendant.
However, Chesebro and Powell’s attorneys continued to push their efforts, arguing their cases were worthy of being separated. Chesebro’s attorney Scott Grubman argued “you’re going to have two cases in one”, based on the fact that Chesebro’s case involves the fake electors scheme, while Powell’s concerns the Coffee County’s voting systems breach, essentially having nothing to do with Chesebro’s.
Chesebro worked directly on the Trump campaign’s efforts to undermine the 2020 election results. Another of Chesebro’s attorneys, Manny Arora, disclosed that Powell was fired before the conspiracy actually began because “she said something that was supposedly crazy and the Trump people got rid of her,” according to CNN. Powell’s attorney Brian Rafferty agreed the two had no involvement in the other’s cases.
State Prosecutor Will Wooten ruled that despite the differences the attorneys pointed out, all evidence against the defendants is connected.
“Anytime a person enters into a conspiracy, they are liable for all of the acts of all of their co-conspirators,” he added, according to CNN. “Evidence against one is evidence against all.”
For that reason, Wooten argued the case would be the same regardless of how many defendants are tried at one time.
McAfee has yet to determine whether the other 17 defendants will be tried in October. He believes the trial will run longer than the approximated four months.
As for former President Trump’s involvement in the case, his attorneys were not present at Wednesday's hearing, but he remains at the center of accusations. According to Grubman, Trump’s role could affect how a jury views the other defendants because the state wants a case against Trump and the other defendants, while he feels each deserves to be tried as a separate entity.
McAfee said he aims to have answers to burning questions surrounding the trial schedule and the reality of a 19 defendant joint trial early next week.