ATLANTA — President Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday and waived arraignment in the case accusing him and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

That means he won’t have to show up for an arraignment hearing, in which a defendant is formally read the charges against him or her, that a Fulton County Superior Court judge, Scott McAfee, had set for next week. 

The decision to skip an in-person appearance averts the dramatic arraignments that have accompanied the three other criminal cases Trump faces in which the former president has been forced amid tight security into a courtroom and entered “not guilty” pleas before crowds of spectators.

Mr. Trump and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a 41-count indictment that outlines an alleged scheme to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Several other people charged in the indictment had already waived arraignment in filings with the court, saving them a trip to the courthouse at downtown Atlanta. 

Mr. Trump previously traveled to Georgia on August 24 to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail, where he became the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

The case, filed under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, is sprawling, and the logistics of bringing it to trial are likely to be complicated. Legal maneuvering by several of those charged has already begun.

At least two defendants have filed demands for a speedy trial and have asked to be tried separately from others in the case. The judge has set an October 23 trial date for one of them, a lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro.

Charges against Mr. Chesebro center on his work on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate stating, in defiance of the election results, that Mr. Trump won the state and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

The Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, has said she wants all of the defendants tried together, and she asked the judge to set an October 23 trial date for everyone.

Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, has said in court filings that he objects to that date and plans to file a motion to separate Mr. Trump’s case from that of anyone who files a speedy trial demand.

Some of the others charged are trying to move their cases to federal court. A judge on Monday heard arguments on such a request by Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, but the judge did not immediately rule.

Mr. Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has criticized the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to keep him from winning back the White House.

Associated Press