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We have a few updates to some of the legal cases against former President Donald Trump.
Starting in Georgia, Trump and other defendants involved in the RICO case are waiving their right to a speedy trial and looking to keep their cases separate from one another. Trump was the first to file the waiver on Tuesday, followed by some of the other defendants on Wednesday.
But two defendants, lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, had already filed speedy trail demands ahead of time. The judge had set these to begin on Oct. 23, but this could complicate the overall case.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Georgia prosecutors are seeking to combine all 19 defendants into one joint trial. Prosecutors say multiple separate trials would “create an enormous strain on the judicial resources.”
With the trials for Powell and Chesebro already set, Willis and others were expecting to have all of the defendants appear on the original scheduled date.
The judge ruled that the remaining 17 cases should be separated from the Oct. 23 trial and indicated that further separations might be necessary. However, he also said that any defendant who does not waive their right to a speedy trial before Oct. 23 must be present for that date.
And even as all of this is happening, five of the defendants are looking to have their cases moved to federal court instead of state court. One of these is former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. A district judge had already rejected Meadows’ original arguments and had his case go back to the Fulton County Superior Court.
Meadows appealed the ruling and asked that an emergency stay be placed on his Georgia case while the appeal process moves forward. However, this request was denied and the state case continues. The other four defendants will have hearings with the district judge next week.
Meanwhile in Florida, a federal judge issued a gag order in the classified documents case.
The order issued by Judge Aileen Cannon prevents Trump and his legal team from discussing aspects of the case outside of the courtroom. Breaching the rule could “constitute violations of federal crime law” according to Cannon’s ruling.
Trump’s team had also requested if it could review the classified documents at a specifically-designated area of Mar-a-Lago. Cannon did not seem to address this request at all.
Finally, we have another update to the 14th Amendment conversation regarding Trump on the 2024 ballot. New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan on Wednesday said he would not invoke the amendment in an attempt to block Trump’s name from appearing on the state ballot. This comes after New Hampshire had launched a legal inquiry into the idea.