appeal. i m really copeland, we need your georgia expertise to untangle what is going on in the speedy trial situation, which suddenly just became, maybe, not so speedy. district attorney willis saying, to the judge, wait a minute, you have, in effect, with your scheduling order for one trial, for one defendant, severed that defendant without there being a motion to sever. district attorney willis is saying, we have to all get back together in court and talk about this. that s exactly what she is saying. the statute does give the judge the discretion to sever it, as long as he s not violating the law, or making it a fact, he has the discussion to separate. notice in the hearing, the hallmarks of a legal system. that s what i think miss willis is saying. we want to be heard on this before you do it. mr. chesebro as filed a demand for a speedy trial. under georgia statute, if he
motion to sever, the state of georgia respectfully requests that the court set aside its scheduling audit to the extent that the order states at this time these deadlines do not apply to any codefendant. the state of georgia for the respectfully requests that the court set a deadline for any defendant wishing to file a motion to sever, allow the parties, including the state of georgia, sufficient time to brief the severance issue. the state maintains its position that severance is improper at this juncture, and all defendants should be tried together. judge mcafee has scheduled the speedy trial for defendant chesebro for october 23rd last then two months from tonight. defendant sydney powell, one of the eight lawyers who are criminal defendants in the case, as also filed a motion requesting a speedy trial. leading off our discussion
making the calculus of october 23rd is not that far away, i already have sydney powell who wants a speedy trial. i have little trump who has already told the court that he intends to sever with but hasn t. yeah she s basically saying judge, it s time to move this train along. if you re going to several people, let s have a briefing. let s go through this process. but, it s a default position, i want you to know, judge, my position is, we should try all these what that s gonna do is shake loose the motion to sever, which trump s people have been sitting on because every day that goes by is good for them. yes, and they re not gonna get head of anything. they re not like the ones are gonna go okay we probably sent them motion to sever. we re gonna wait to the last minute to do. it and they re probably gonna see how the removal motion is going to come.
respectfully requests that the court set a deadline for any defendant wishing to file a motion to sever, allow the parties, including the state of georgia, sufficient time to brief the severance issue. the state maintains its position that severance is improper at this juncture, and all defendants should be tried together. judge mcafee has scheduled the speedy trial for defendant chesebro for october 23rd last then two months from tonight. defendant sydney powell, one of the eight lawyers who are criminal defendants in the case, as also filed a motion requesting a speedy trial. leading off our discussion tonight is gglenn kirschner, former federal prosecutor, and the host of the justice matters podcast. he s an msnbc legal analyst. also with us, amy lee copeland, criminal defense attorney and former georgia federal prosecutor. glenn, let s go to what s happening in the federal court
go to trial. the interesting thing about this, obviously, other defendants will try to sever. they won t want to go to trial as quickly. as kenneth chesebro, apparently does. his case will go forward, if not, in early october, than not too long thereafter. this will be the first opportunity for people in this country to see some of the evidence against donald trump and others, because this is georgia. where there are cameras in the courtroom. so, to the point of lawrence s comments about concerns about delay, and the risk that an appeal cannot be completed before the next election, which it cannot be, that is something that is an appellate lawyer, i ve thought about a lot. the risk that donald trump s president could simply direct the justice department to refuse to defend the appeal. and the case would be over. even if that happens, here in georgia, some of the evidence will be shown to the public on television. people will see the witnesses. they will see their demeanor.