Mark Meadows and five other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty in a Georgia racketeering indictment, according to reports.
Former White House Chief of Staff and Co-Defendants Plead Not Guilty in Georgia Racketeering Indictment
In a dramatic turn of events, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and five other co-defendants named in the sweeping Georgia racketeering indictment have pleaded not guilty and waived their in-person arraignment set for tomorrow.
“I fully understand the nature of the offenses charged and my right to appear at arraignment,” Meadows wrote in the court filing reported by The Hill. “Understanding my rights, I do hereby freely and voluntarily waive my right to be present at my arraignment on the Indictment and my right to have it read to me in open court.”
Meadows and 18 other co-defendants find themselves named in former President Donald Trump’s fourth indictment following a criminal investigation into the alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has pursued charges against these individuals under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. This act allows prosecutors to connect various crimes committed by multiple defendants and argue that they were working together toward a criminal goal, thus forming a “criminal enterprise.”
Trump, who has broadly denied any wrongdoing, claims that politically motivated forces are targeting him in a “witch hunt” propagated by the Biden administration and Democrat prosecutors in New York and Georgia.
Joining Meadows in pleading not guilty are attorney John Eastman, ex-DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, Shawn Still, David Shafer (the former Georgia GOP chair), and Cathy Latham (a member of the Georgia Republican Party’s executive committee), according to ABC News.
Clark’s attorney reportedly said in a filing that the charges against his client were an “unconstitutional attempt, as to Mr. Clark, to penetrate into the sanctums of the superior federal government’s Justice Department, as well as of the Office of the President of the United States at the White House.”
“The Indictment is also an unconstitutional affront to the powers of the President, who is the sole head of the unitary executive branch,” Clark’s filing states.
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Both Clark and Meadows are among the five defendants requesting to move their cases from state court into federal court.
All but one of the 19 defendants, including former President Donald Trump, named in the indictment have now pleaded not guilty and waived their in-person arraignment.
Reports indicate that former Coffee County elections director Misty Hampton has yet to enter a plea.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has set September 6 as the date for all 19 defendants to be arraigned on charges and enter their pleas in the case.
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