September 6, 2023
For the first time we got to watch a hearing involving one of the criminal cases of former President Trump.
And while he wasn’t there in the courtroom. They definitely talked about him and some decisions were made that will impact him.
So, today’s hearing was in the Georgia election interference case, the RICO case. The whole point of today’s hearing was to decide whether two of trump’s 18-co-defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro can have their cases separated from trump and the other codefendants because both of them have exercised their right to a speedy trial. And by law that means the judge has to set a quick trial date.
So here’s what the judge decided today.
For sure Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro will be tried together. And that trial is scheduled to begin in state court on October 23.
The judge heard arguments about what to do with the other 17 co-defendants including former President Trump. Should the all be forced to go to trial on October 23? Since this is a RICO case, the Georgia prosecutors said yeah and they said they believe the trial would take four months – not including jury selection with 150 witnesses. The judge seemed very skeptical of that idea. It’s really unlikely that the judge will force the other 17 co-defendants to be tried in late October.
The last big issue discussed in court today that may impact the former president is the question of whether this RICO case will be removed from state court all together. One of the co-defendants, former chief of staff Mark Meadows has asked for his state charges to be moved to the federal side. The federal judge in that case has not issued a ruling yet, but the state judge today suggested it’s possible that the federal judge will move not only Meadow’s case but the entire RICO case to federal court.
There will be another hearing next Thursday in state court, unless we get a sweeping ruling from the federal judge.
