Trump pleads not guilty in Georgia case, judge rules trial will be televised

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty today to charges in Georgia that accuse him and 18 allies of trying to upend the 2020 presidential election results in that state.

  The plea allows Mr. Trump to avoid an in-person arraignment next week.

  For more on the latest developments in that case, we're joined now by Stephen Fowler, who covers politics for Georgia Public Broadcasting.

  Stephen, thank you for being with us.

  So, Donald Trump pleading not guilty, what exactly does that mean for his arraignment? And what else is he seeking in this Fulton County case?

• Stephen Fowler, Georgia Public Broadcasting:

  Well, just what it means is that we will not be seeing Donald Trump traveled to Georgia and sit in a Fulton County courtroom and enter that same plea.

  There are 19 defendants and many of them have entered what's known as an arraignment waiver, which means they have entered their pleas of not guilty ahead of time. And they don't have to show up for this quick 15-minute scheduled hearing next Wednesday.

  Trump has also filed a motion to sever from defendants that are requesting a speedy trial. At least two people so far say that they want to have a trial as soon as possible, which could be as early as the end of October. He says that that would violate his rights. And he's asking for basically as long as possible to have this trial.

  And this comes as the judge also ruled, Geoff, that there will be cameras in the courtroom. The judge will have a YouTube channel to stream all of the court hearings related to this. So we will be able to watch things in real time.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And there's also some news involving the governor and the district attorney.

  Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, he's rejecting calls to discipline or remove a Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, from her position, which is what some Trump-aligned Republicans in that state had wanted. Here's what the governor said today.

• Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA):

  Let me be clear. We have a law in the state of Georgia, that clearly outlines the legal steps that can be taken if constituents believe their local prosecutors are violating their oath by engaging in unethical or illegal behavior.

  Up to this point, I have not seen any evidence that DA Willis' actions or lack thereof warrant action by the prosecuting attorney oversight commission.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So, Kemp, we should say, signed this law. But now he's saying that it shouldn't be used against Fani Willis. Why is this significant?

• Stephen Fowler:

  Well, it's a big deal, because Trump and a couple of his allies in the Georgia legislature are pushing to have a special session to strip funding away from Fani Willis or to impeach her or to basically punish her for bringing these charges against Trump and 18 other people.

  And Kemp is pushing back on this, saying: That's not something I can do. That's not something we should do.

  And he keeps saying that Republicans need to focus on the future, because Georgia has some strong evidence in both 2020 and 2022 where focusing on the past has meant Democrats win the races. So, a strong rebuke to the former president and to some of his allies pushing for punishing this prosecutor.

• Geoff Bennett:

  (audio gap) left.

  We're also waiting for the judge in this case to rule on Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, his request to have this case moved from state court to federal court. What's the latest there?

• Stephen Fowler:

  Well, today, we actually just had orders from the state and from Mark Meadows outlining an answer to a judge's question asking about if one of the acts Meadows is accused of doing was part of his job duties as chief of staff, could the case be moved to federal court?

  Meadows says yes, and the state obviously says no. That ruling is expected any time.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Stephen Fowler, covering the very latest in the Fulton County case for us tonight, we appreciate it.

• Stephen Fowler:

  Thank you.

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