Booking photo from Rudy Giuliani from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
(CNN) – Donald Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and six other co-conspirators charged in the Georgia election subversion case pleaded not guilty on Friday and waived their right to an indictment hearing.
Georgian law allows the accused to appear in court in person and to formally plead innocent by filing documents with the court. Twelve defendants in the case have filed formal complaints. If any of the 19 defendants fail to file the paperwork, they will be required to appear in Atlanta for an in-person hearing on Wednesday.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has charged Giuliani with 13 federal felonies, including violating Georgia’s Anti-Rager Extortion Act, conspiring to commit false testimony and writings, and soliciting an officer to break his oath.
Giuliani’s tally of 13 counts in the Fulton County indictment is higher than any other defendant in the case except Trump, who also has 13 indictments.
The former mayor of New York City previously represented Trump and made three appearances before Georgia state lawmakers following the December 2020 general election, where he lied about widespread fraud in the state.
In the Fulton County indictment, prosecutors also cite Giuliani’s contacts with officials in other states — including legislators in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona — where he allegedly made further false allegations of voter fraud and attempted to get them to appoint fake voters.
Kenneth Chesbro
Posting photo by Kenneth Chesebro of the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
According to a court filing, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, the architect of Trump’s 2020 election-rigging campaign, pleaded not guilty to the Georgia election subversion case on Friday.
He also waived his right to an indictment hearing, according to the file.
Chesebro faces seven criminal charges, including violating Georgia’s RICO law and conspiring to forge documents. He denies wrongdoing and his trial is scheduled to begin in late October.
Chesebro, the first Georgia defendant with a scheduled trial date, wants a judge to force Willis to expedite the release of “discovery” evidence ahead of his Oct. 23 criminal trial.
In a court filing Friday, Chesebro’s attorney said he had already given Willis a hard drive for the evidence. But he said prosecutors told him they would not be ready to return it along with the discovery material until September 15.
“The state should not be allowed to wait as late as possible to gain a tactical advantage in this litigation,” Chesebro’s attorney Scott Grubman said in a filing.
The filing goes on to say, “The state has publicly announced that it is ready to proceed to court immediately.” So it’s hard to believe to say now that the state can’t share the discovery.”
Fulton County prosecutors plan to try the case with all 19 defendants in October and keep it in state court.
Some of the defendants have asked for the case to be dropped and separate trials held. Some defendants are trying to take the case to federal court. And some defendants are pushing for expeditious trials later this year, while Trump rejects that timeframe and wants the process to slow down.
Robert Cheley
Robert Cheeley’s booking photo from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Pro-Trump attorney Robert Cheeley, charged in the Georgia election subversion case, pleaded not guilty on Friday and waived his right to an indictment hearing.
Willis charged Cheeley with 10 state crimes, including violations of Georgia’s anti-extortion law, perjury and asking an officer to break his oath.
After the 2020 election, Cheeley attended public hearings before Georgia state lawmakers at which he and other Trump allies made baseless allegations of fraud. At a Georgia Senate hearing in December 2020, Cheeley showed a video he falsely claimed contained “evidence” of vote-rigging in Atlanta that was “intended to shock Georgian consciences.”
Stephen Lee
Stephen Lee’s booking photo from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Fulton County defendant Stephen Lee, who faces five counts in the count of voter subversion related to the intimidation of an Atlanta poll worker, pleaded not guilty and waived his right to a formal arraignment on Friday.
Willis charged Lee with five counts, including violating Georgia’s anti-extortion law, tampering with a witness and conspiracy to obtain false testimony.
Prosecutors say Lee, an Illinois-based pastor, was involved in a conspiracy to pressure an Atlanta worker into falsely admitting she committed massive fraud against Trump in the 2020 election.
Poll worker Ruby Freeman called 911 after Lee knocked on her door in December 2020. When a police officer confronted Lee in his car, Lee said he was trying to “find out some truth about what’s going on,” according to police camera footage obtained by CNN.
Mike Roman, Harrison Floyd and Scott Hall
Three other Trump co-defendants in Georgia — Mike Roman, Harrison Floyd and Scott Hall — pleaded not guilty Friday and waived their right to an indictment hearing.
Scott Hall’s booking photo from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
They have all been indicted by Willis in her wide-ranging racketeering case related to attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Roman is a former Trump campaign official, Floyd runs Black Voices for Trump, and Hall is a Georgia-based bailiff. They all filed court papers Friday and waived appearances for an in-person hearing in Atlanta next week.
Michael Roman’s booking photo from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Prosecutors charged Roman with seven felonies, including conspiracy to forge documents, primarily related to his role in the Trump campaign’s election fraud conspiracy.
In addition, Floyd was charged with conspiracy to incite false testimony and writings and tampering with witnesses in connection with the intimidation of an Atlanta poll worker. He was the only co-defendant not to negotiate a bail agreement prior to his surrender and spent about five days in the notorious Fulton County jail before being released earlier this week.
Harrison Floyd’s booking photo from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Hall faces a total of seven criminal charges, including two counts of conspiracy to voter fraud related to violating the Coffee County electoral system.
Several other members of the alleged conspiracy have already pleaded not guilty and have waived the September 6 arraignment date. This contains:
Former President Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s booking photo from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis
Posting photo by Jenna Ellis of the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell
Booking photo from Sydney Powell from the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Ray Smith
Booking photo by Ray Smith of the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
Publicist Trevian Kutti
Posting photo of Trevian Kutti of Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office.
