Mark Meadows, five more defendants plead not guilty in Georgia election case

Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on September 5, 2023

(ATLANTA) — Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is among six more defendants who have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in the Georgia election interference case and waived their in-person arraignment set for Wednesday, according to court filings.

Meadows, as well as attorney John Eastman, ex-DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, and Cathy Latham, Shawn Still and David Shafer all filed documents Tuesday pleading not guilty.

All but one of the 19 defendants, including former President Donald Trump, have now pleaded not guilty in the case and waived their in-person arraignment. Only former Coffee County elections director Misty Hampton still has to enter a plea.

Trump and the 18 others were charged last month in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

The former president says his actions were not illegal and that the investigation is politically motivated.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee last week set the date of Sept. 6 for all 19 defendants to be arraigned on charges and enter their pleas in the case.

Clark, who is one of the five defendants seeking to move their case from state court into federal court, pushed back on the case in a lengthier filing by his attorney, calling it 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.