The broad Georgia racketeering indictment names former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows along with five other co-defendants, who were scheduled to be arraigned in person tomorrow, allegedly waived their appearance and entered a not guilty plea this week.
“I am fully aware of the charges against me and my right to be present at my arraignment,” Meadows stated in the court document obtained by The Hill. “The undersigned hereby freely and voluntarily waives, with knowledge of my rights, the right to a public reading of the indictment at my arraignment as well as to have it read to me.”
In former President Trump’s fourth charge, Meadows along with 18 other people are also named as suspects. This is the result of a criminal probe into Trump’s alleged attempts to change the outcome of the presidential election for 2020 in the state.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County DA, tried to charge the people under Georgia’s RICO Act. This law lets prosecutors link the crimes of multiple defendants and claim that all of them had been working together regarding a criminal objective, so they were part of a “criminal enterprise.”
Trump has said that he didn’t do anything wrong and that the Biden administration and Democratic attorneys in New York and Georgia are leading a “witch hunt” against him.
According to ABC News, other defendants who entered not-guilty pleas included lawyer John Eastman, former DOJ officer Jeffrey Clark, Shawn Still, former Georgia Republican chair David Shafer, and Cathy Latham, a member of the GOP executive committee.
In a filing, Clark’s lawyer is said to have said that the allegations brought against his client had been an “unconstitutional attempt to break into the inner workings of the US government’s Department of Justice and the White House Office of the President.”
“As the only leader of the unitary executive branch, the President’s powers are unconstitutionally insulted by the indictment,” according to Clark’s submission.
Five suspects, including Clark and Meadows, want their cases to be moved from state court to federal court.
All but one of the 19 people named in the charge, which includes former President Trump, have at this point pleaded not guilty and declined to be arraigned in person.
Reports say that Misty Hampton, who used to be the elections head for Coffee County, has not yet filed a plea.
Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court scheduled the arraignment and the plea hearing for all 19 of the defendants for September 6.
The accusation by Fani Willis itself is indictable, in that it is part of a criminal conspiracy by the Democrat Party to unlawfully prevent a private party, i.e. Trump, from running for the Presidency. Willis should be charged by the DOJ with RICO activity. What are the chances of that happening? Does the term “snowball in hell” ring a bell?
We ALREADY HAVE TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! DUE TO A STOLEN ELECTION AND FRAUDULENT POTUS!!! NO ONE HAS TO OBEA POTUS. WE ALL MUST IGNORE CURRENT POTUS. NOT OUR POTUS! Dems created and unleashed COVID. Is guilty of millions of deaths. COVID WAS NO ACCIDENT PEOPLE MUST WAKE UP !!
As an American citizen, I endorse following the restrictions in the 14th amendment. This means it is how being American should happen