First trial of Trump co-defendant in Georgia case will begin Oct. 23, judge rules

A Georgia judge on Thursday scheduled the first trial for a co-defendant of former President Donald Trump for criminally interfering in the state's 2020 election to begin on Oct. 23.

The co-defendant, Kenneth Chesebro, on Wednesday had filed a demand for a speedy trial in the case in Atlanta.

Earlier Thursday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, responded to that request by asking a a judge to set Oct. 23 as the trial date for Trump, Chesebro and the other 17 defendants.

But Chesebro, an attorney, is the only one of Trump's co-defendants who will stand trial starting that day under the new order issued Thursday by Judge Scott McAfee in Fulton County Superior Court.

Chesebro's lawyers earlier said he "will be prepared to move forward with trial for whatever date the Court ultimately sets."

McAfee's order lays out an extremely fast timeline for the Chesebro's case before trial.

Chesebro, Trump and the other defendants were indicted by a grand jury on Aug. 14. Prosecutors accuse the defendants of a wide-ranging criminal enterprise that intended to use several strategies to reverse Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

It routinely takes months, and sometimes much longer, for a criminal case to go to trial, much less one involving a former U.S. president and many co-defendants.

When Willis asked McAfee to set Oct. 23 as the trial date for all defendants, Trump's lawyer quickly replied in court opposing the request. Trump's attorney also said he would seek to sever his case from that of Chesebro and "any other co-defendant who makes a similar request" for a quick trial.

McAfee's order setting Chesebro's trial was issued as Trump was en route to an Atlanta jail to be booked in the case.

The judge set Chesebro's arraignment for Sept. 9, with the exchange of evidence by prosecutors and his lawyers to be completed by Sept. 20.

Chesebro was booked and released Wednesday on $100,000 bond.

He is charged with seven felony counts: violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; and conspiracy to commit filing false documents.

Chesebro was the architect of a plan in which Trump electors would meet and cast electoral votes for him in states which he had lost to President Joe Biden, including Georgia.

As a rule, only the candidate who has won an individual state can get votes in the Electoral College for that state.

The idea of having so-called "fake" electors cast votes for Trump was designed to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Biden's victory, and give then-Vice President Mike Pence and Republicans in Congress a purported basis of rejecting Biden electors.

That plan failed when Pence refused to go along with it.