No defendants in Fulton County election case to appear for arraignment, after all plead not guilty

Former President Donald Trump and his 18 defendants indicted in Georgia's Fulton County last month on charges related to the 2020 election all pleaded not guilty and waived their arraignments, which means that none will appear before a superior court judge for their originally scheduled arraignments Wednesday. 

The judge overseeing the case, Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, had scheduled the arraignments in 15-minute intervals, with Trump's first at 9:30 a.m. ET. 

Each of the defendants individually waived their right to appear, which is allowed under Georgia law and expected due to the fact that most of them live out of state, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Because no defendant is set to make an in-person appearance, McAfee scheduled a hearing Wednesday afternoon on motions from defendants and former Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell to sever their parts of the case from the other 17 codefendants. 

McAfee had previously set Chesebro's trial date for Oct. 23, as the attorney had asked for a speedy trial, but on Tuesday Chesebro's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the seven charges that their client faces. Powell similarly asked for a speedy trial.

Chesebro and Powell are not the only defendants asking for their cases to be severed. Trump and co-defendant John Eastman also asked for their portions of the case to be severed. 

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.