Trump indictment: What happens now that all the defendants have surrendered?
ATLANTA - All 19 defendants indicted in the alleged conspiracy plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election have surrendered at the Fulton County Jail, including former President Donald Trump.
Where does the case against him go from here?
"The next step is arraignment. That’s a formal proceeding where you go in front of a judge and enter a plea of not guilty," said Tom Church, a trial attorney not connected to the case. "What’s important about an arraignment is that triggers the rest of the case. At that point the DA has to turn over discovery which is all the evidence they supposedly have against you and you get to file your motions."
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The former president can choose to waive his arraignment. "They submit a document to the court saying ‘I don’t need to go through the whole dog-and-pony show. I’m not guilty. Let me go ahead and get my discovery and file my motions,’" Church said.
"Depending on what the judge decides they will have to be present, or they can waive it and say they don’t have to be there as a result of what the judge says," said Darryl Cohen, a former Assistant District Attorney in Fulton County.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis is accusing the former president of a wide-ranging conspiracy to subvert the will of Georgia voters after then-president trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020. She’s pursuing racketeering charges against the former commander-in-chief and 18 other co-defendants, who have different lawyers with different goals.
"What will happen is each and every one of these lawyers will file his or her own motions," Cohen said.
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Those motions can drag a case out, especially in massive, complex trials. "Motion to suppress, to say the evidence that the state or county has is not good, it’s invalid, it was illegally obtained. Any number of other motions that can and will be filed," said Cohen.
The court can schedule the arraignment at any time. Defendants typically get a two-weeks notice.