OAN’s Roy Francis 8:42 AM – Thursday, August 31, 2023
45th President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges in Georgia alleging that he had tried to steal the 2020 election.
Advertisement
By entering the not guilty plea, Trump will now avoid having to appear at a scheduled arraignment hearing on September 6th.
The charges that the 45th president is facing in Georgia are racketeering, soliciting state officials to violate their oaths of office, making false statement, filing false statements and conspiracy dealing with fake electors in the state.
Trump, and his 18 co-defendants, were indicted on August 14th, on a combined 41 charges. Other co-defendants such as Ray Smith, Sidney Powell and Trevian Kutti have all already filed not guilty pleas.
After his arraignment, the 45th president was released on a $200,000 bond while he awaits trial.
This is a breaking story. Check back for more details.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Donald Trump’s trial in Washington, D.C., regarding allegations of “attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election” has been set for March 4th, 2024, according to U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan.
Advertisement
The question of whether Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, may transfer his election-related charges from state to federal court was being discussed in a separate hearing that was taking place in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday morning.
According to candidate polls, Trump is the current leading favorite to win the Republican nomination for president in 2024, and the D.C. trial will begin the day before Super Tuesday’s primary.
Trump is the only individual indicted in the D.C. case so far, but his indictment details claim that he engaged six accomplices in his alleged efforts to reverse President Joe Biden’s election win and stay in power. Trump is the first former American president to be accused of criminal charges.
While leading the Republican field for the 2024 presidential nomination, he has been indicted in four separate cases and has denied misconduct in each case.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan emphasized her intention to “keep politics out of this” during her opening statement at the Washington, D.C., hearing for the 2020 election obstruction case against Trump. However, Trump and other GOP representatives have expressed numerous times that Chutkan is highly partisan.
Chutkan gained notoriety for imposing extremely harsh, long-term punishments on participants in the January 6th Capitol breach that were much stricter than the punishments advised by federal prosecutors.
Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) also brought up the fact that she loudly criticized the Capitol disturbance while openly supporting the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots, most of which were violent, inflicted injuries and deaths, and wreaked havoc on small businesses and communities.
“Judge Tanya Chutkan’s impracticality of her tough sentencing of Jan. 6th defendants, despite openly supporting the violent Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, showcases not only a lack of impartiality but also a disregard for the sacred duty of a judge to uphold justice fairly,” Gaetz declared.
According to FactCheck.org, less than 5 people died during the January 6th Capitol breach, and they were all Trump supporters. Two of the deaths, Kevin Greeson, 55, and Benjamin Phillips, 50, were from heart attacks.
Additionally, a Jan. 7th statement from then-U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said that, Ashli Babbitt, 35, an Air Force veteran, died on the day of the riot after being shot in the shoulder by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to shove her way into the House chamber where members of Congress were taking cover.
The Department of Justice declared in April 2022 that the Capitol Police officer who shot Babbitt would not be charged.
A fact check by the Austin-American Statesman stated that the deaths of at least a dozen individuals, or as many as 19, were reported during the BLM George Floyd protests, as press reports stated in June 2021. A 77-year-old retired St. Louis police captain and a 22-year-old resident of Davenport, Iowa, were among the casualties.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
