DENIED: Judge Shoots Down Trump Co-Defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesbro Attempt to Be Tried Separately

Fulton Co. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee began his first televised hearing in the Trump election interference case by denying a request for co-defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesbro to be tried separately.

MSNBC legal correspondent Katie Phang said she was surprised by how quickly the judge ruled on the request.

“To the judge’s point, he’s under a really quick time line,” Phang said. She continued, explaining how much will be done in the next few weeks:

October 23rd, a little bit over five weeks away, and as the judge indicated in court today, there’s a lot of stuff that has to get done. Pretrial motions, etc., not to mention the fact that he’s awaiting a ruling from federal Judge Steve Jones in terms of whether or not the removal defendants, specifically Mark Meadows, is going to actually go to federal court.

And that really dovetails with one of the biggest questions that was asked of all counsel, specifically the state indicating, “We’re ready to go to trial with all 19 defendants, your honor, if you’re inclined to sever just Chesebro and Powell, it’s the same amount of time — four months. It’s the same number of witnesses — 150.” Why? Because they said, quote, “evidence against one is evidence against all.”

Phang added, “The remaining question is will Judge McAfee order the remaining 17 defendants to be tried with” Powell and Chesbro.

Anchor Katy Tur asked, “How can he say to the other 17 defendants, who’ve said they don’t want seedy trial, that they have to have a trial on October 23rd?”

“I think if we have to read tea leaves, the indication from the court, because of the logistical questions he kept imposing on the state and the defense, you’re not going to see all 19 of the defendants tried together. Why? Because they each individually have due process rights…You’re going to probably see an October 23rd trial of Chesebro and Powell. But the real issue is going to be, how do you manage the remaining 17?”

Phang added, “It’s really a logistical nightmare.”

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

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