Judge Separates 2 Trump Co-Defendants' Trials

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Facts

  • On Thursday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee separated the trials of Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro from former US Pres. Donald Trump and 16 other co-defendants in the Georgia election probe.1
  • Powell and Chesebro, both lawyers in their own right, had requested speedy trials and were subsequently set a trial date of Oct. 23, while Trump and other defendants said they couldn't prepare in time for that deadline.2
  • While Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had wanted all 19 defendants to be trialed together, McAfee allowed the trials to be separated, citing the necessity to 'ensure adequate pretrial preparation.'3
  • Federal prosecutors had argued that the separation of the case would lead to 'an enormous strain on the judicial resources' of the court. However, McAfee also noted that Fulton County Courthouse lacked a courtroom 'adequately large enough to hold 19 defendants' and their teams.4
  • McAfee did, however, deny Powell and Chesebro's petition to separate their own cases from each other.5
  • The 19 individuals are charged within a 41-count criminal indictment accusing the defendants of attempting to overturn Pres. Joe Biden's victory in the state during the 2020 presidential election in favor of Trump.6

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Associated Press, 3PBS NewsHour, 4The independent, 5Yahoo news and 6NBC.

Narratives

  • Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by The western journal. Fani Willis' hero status bestowed upon her by the left has been taken down a notch following the court's decision. By allowing Trump's legal team further time to defend the former president's name, there is greater hope that the entirety of the unjust judicial witch hunt by the Biden administration will be shown for the conspiracy that it really is.
  • Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by CNN. While the decision is a small win for Trump, it means the former president's legal calendar for the first half of 2024 will be clogged in tandem with handling his run for the presidency. Until a date for Trump's trial is revealed, it seems that every inch will continue to be fought between prosecution and defense.

Predictions