Trump pleads not guilty and waives arraignment in Georgia election case

The former president won’t have to show up for an arraignment hearing that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set for next week.

Associated Press
Kate Brumback

August 31, 2023

Trump has pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment in the case accusing him and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment in the case accusing him and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

That means he won’t have to show up for an arraignment hearing that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set for next week.

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Trump and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a 41-count indictment that outlines an alleged scheme to subvert the will of Georgia voters who had chosen Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.

Several other people charged in the indictment had already waived arraignment in filings with the court, saving them a trip to the courthouse in downtown Atlanta. Trump previously traveled to Georgia on Aug. 24 to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail, where he became the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

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