The former U.S. President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to a Georgia criminal indictment accusing him of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. 

 

He has also requested to be tried separately from some of his 18 co-defendants. Trump was indicted by Fulton County in August on 13 felony counts, including racketeering, for pressuring state officials to reverse his 2020 election loss in the state and allegedly setting up a fake slate of electors to undermine the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

 

Trump’s plea means that he will not appear in person in an Atlanta court next week to face the charges. 

 

His lawyers have also asked the judge to sever his case from some of his co-defendants seeking a speedy trial. 

 

This would put Trump’s case on a different schedule from that of a co-defendant, Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer for Trump’s 2020 campaign, whose trial is set to begin on Oct. 23.

 

The Georgia case is Trump’s fourth indictment. He faces a New York state trial in March involving a hush money payment to a porn star and a federal trial in May in Florida for allegedly mishandling federal classified documents.

 

Another indictment, in federal court in Washington, accuses him of illegally seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Trump is due to stand trial in March 2024, one day before Republican voters in more than a dozen U.S. states decide whether to give him a chance to recapture the White House.