The Daily Fuckup

The Georgia election-interference case took a procedural turn on Sept. 14, 2023, when Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro would be tried together on Oct. 23 and that the remaining 17 defendants would be severed from that pair. The order did not set a trial date for Donald Trump or for the rest of the defendants. It did, however, make clear that the case would not move forward as one single proceeding for all 19 people named in the indictment.

McAfee’s order came after Powell and Chesebro invoked their speedy-trial rights and asked to be separated. The judge rejected their request to be split from each other, but agreed that trying the entire group together was not workable. He wrote that severing the other defendants from Powell and Chesebro was a procedural and logistical necessity, while also saying the case could require still more divisions later.

That left the defense side with a new reality: one trial date for two defendants, and a separate set of decisions still ahead for the rest. The order did not resolve how the remaining defendants would be grouped, when they would be tried, or whether further severances would follow. It simply moved Powell and Chesebro onto one track and pushed everyone else onto another.

The indictment at the center of the case accuses Trump and 18 others of taking part in a plan to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia. Prosecutors say the allegations include pressure on state officials and the false-elector effort. McAfee’s ruling did not address the merits of those accusations. It dealt with trial management, not guilt.

As of the Sept. 17 edition date, the clearest change in the case was narrow but important: Powell and Chesebro had an October trial date, while the rest of the defendants were still waiting on the court’s next scheduling call. The order made the case less likely to proceed as one massive joint trial, but it did not settle the calendar for Trump or the others.