Trump WON’T stand trial in October: Judge rejects Fani Willis’ bid to have all 19 co-defendants in Georgia election case be tried together – and warns they could ALL be split up

A judge in Georgia ruled on Thursday that Donald Trump and sixteen others will be tried separately from Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro. who will appear in court next month in the case centering on an alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.

Powell and Chesebro had filed motions for a speedy trial, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had their trial set for Oct. 23.

The former president and the other defendants asked to be tried separately, with some claiming they would not be ready in time for an October trial.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pushed to try all 19 co-defendants together in what she said was a vast conspiracy to take away Joe Biden’s election victory in Georgia.

McAfee cited the tight schedule as a factor in his decision to separate Trump and sixteen others from Powell and Chesebro.

“The Court’s precarious ability to protect the rights of every defendant to a fair trial and ensure adequate pretrial preparation under the current expedited process weighs heavily, if not decisively, in favor of severance,” wrote the judge.

McAfee also noted that the courthouse “simply did not contain a courtroom large enough to hold all 19 defendants, their multiple attorneys and support staff, sheriff’s deputies, judicial staff and the state’s attorney’s office.”

He noted that it may be necessary to further divide the remaining co-defendants into smaller groups for trial.

McAfee has not set a trial date for Trump and the other 16, but the timeline he laid out in Thursday’s court order means they won’t appear in court until December.

He did say that any defendant who does not waive his right to a speedy trial by October 23 will participate in that trial “immediately.” Trump has already waived his right to a speedy trial.

Chesebro and Powell had tried to be tried separately, but the judge denied that request as well.

Some of the other co-defendants — such as Rudy Giuliani — had tried to distance themselves from Powell, who was one of Trump’s most outspoken allies when it came to promoting baseless conspiracy theories linking foreign governments to election interference.

Chesebro and Powell, along with all other co-defendants, have pleaded not guilty to all charges in Willis’ sweeping indictment for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Chesebro is accused of committing acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy,” according to the indictment.

He was one of Trump’s lawyers at the time and drafted a memo on the so-called “alternative electorate” strategy – to draw up an alternative plan for the Electoral College that would support Donald Trump.

His lawyers argued that Chesebro was simply “fulfilling his duty as an attorney to his client.”

Powell also faces computer-related charges related to an attempt to unlawfully access voting machines in Georgia’s Coffee County, the indictment said.

She allegedly hired and paid a computer forensics team that copied data and software from election equipment without permission.

Powell falsely claimed that Dominion Voting Systems helped commit “mass voter fraud” during the 2020 election.