Donald Trump pleads not guilty in Georgia election subversion case

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday in a case accusing him and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Trump, who has been slapped with multiple federal and state indictments in recent months in separate investigations, has also waived arraignment in the Georgia case, meaning he will not have to appear at an arraignment hearing that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set for next week.

The decision to skip an in-person appearance averts a repeat of the dramatic events that have accompanied the three other criminal cases Trump faces, in which the former president has been forced amid tight security into a courtroom and entered “not guilty” pleas before crowds of spectators.

Trump and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a 41-count indictment that outlines an alleged scheme to subvert the will of Georgia voters who had chosen Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.

Several other people charged in the indictment had already waived arraignment in filings with the court, saving them a trip to the courthouse in downtown Atlanta.

Trump previously traveled to Georgia on August 24th to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail, where he became the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

The case, filed under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, or RICO, is sprawling, and the logistics of bringing it to trial are likely to be complicated. Legal manoeuvring by several of those charged has already begun.