Former US President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in a wide-ranging criminal indictment in a case related to attempting to manipulate the results of the 2020 Georgia presidential election.
“As evidenced by my signature below, I deny this formal charge and plead not guilty with respect to the indictment in this case,” Trump said in a document filed with the Fulton County, Georgia Superior Court on the indictment against him.
The Georgian judiciary had charged the former president and 18 other people with a 98-page indictment of “extortion” and committing a number of crimes in an attempt to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential elections, in this presidential term won by Democrat Joe Biden.
Last Monday, Federal Judge Tanya Chatkin set the date for Trump’s trial in the election case to be March 4, 2024.
Former US President Trump was detained briefly on August 25 in Fulton Prison in Georgia on charges of extortion and conspiracy, before he was released after paying a financial guarantee based on an agreement with the state attorney general.
Immediately after his release, Trump denounced what he called a “judicial farce,” describing what happened as “electoral interference.”
The former president was released on a bail of $200,000 after taking his fingerprints and taking a criminal photograph of him.
“It’s another sad day in America,” Trump wrote in a post on his communication platform, “Truth,” adding, “I am on trial because I had the courage to question a fraudulent and stolen election.”
In his previous statements, Trump confirmed that the charges against him in 4 cases are “frivolous, meaningless and fabricated” and accused President Biden of harnessing the capabilities of the Ministry of Justice to obstruct his attempt to reach the White House.
Trump faces 4 criminal trials next year during the Republican primaries season that begins next January, and at the height of the presidential campaign in November 2024.
