We begin our second hour with several major developments in the Georgia Election interference case. Donald trump pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal counts on thursday, waving his arraignment. Trumps lawyers submitted the plea in writing and notified the court he will not appear in person this coming wednesday. Rudy giuliani became the latest codefendant to waive arraignment, entering a not guilty plea on friday. In total, 12 defendants have done this so far. The ex president and some of those charged along with him are also pushing to break up the broad 19 defendant rico case, in a separate filing, trumps lawyers act judge scott mcafee to sever his case from his codefendants who have asked for a speedy trial. At least two defendants have done that, former trump loyal Sidney Powell and kenneth chesebro. Chesebro has been scheduled for october 23rd. Like trump, theyve asked to have their cases tried separately from others. As trump and his codefendants push for their preferences, Fulton County d. A. Fani willis is his having none of it. And is Standing Firm in her request to have all 19 defendants tried together. In a court filing on tuesday, willis asked judge mcafee to clarify the trial schedule in writing, quote, the state maintains its position that severance is improper at an absolute minimum, the court should set defendant powells trial and that of another defendant who may file a speedy trial demand on the same date as defendant chesebro. As of now, it remains unclear whether the other defendants would be tried on that same date. But as willis worked to keep her case intact, she is also facing attacks from trump and his allies within the georgia gop. State senator, colton moore, has been pushing for impeachment, calling for an emergency session to, quote, review the actions of fani willis. An idea that trump appraised on his failed social media site. This week, that idea was quashed by none other than fellow republican georgia governor, brian kemp. Here is what he said at a Press Conference on thursday. I have not seen any evidence that d. A. Williss actions or lack thereof warrant action by the prosecuting attorney oversight commission. A special session of the General Assembly to end run around this law is not feasible, and may ultimately prove to be unconstitutional. As long as i am governor, we are going to follow the law and the constitution, regardless of who it helps, or harms politically. Governor kemps comments highlight a growing civil war within the gop, something that threatens to weaken the party at a crucial time for u. S. Politics. And an inadvertent side effect of fani williss meticulous work and commitment to the rule of law throughout this case. My panel for you now joins me now, ana bauer i molly jongfast, host of fast politics podcast, and a vanity fair special correspondent. Legal analyst. And former federal prosecutor. Its great to have all three of you ladies with us. Carol, why are the codefendants in this rico case seeking to break it up . And how likely is it that we will see more defendants tried on october 23rd along with chesebro. Its still unclear, we know that he filed this motion yesterday. Specifically to have his case severed from sydney powells. Its highly unlikely that you are going to see the judge force defendants, other than the ones who have asked for an early trial, its highly unlikely that the judge is going to force other defendants to join those early defendants in trial in october. That is such an early date. The reason it is happening in october is because chesebro and powell asked for that date. They asserted their demand for a speedy trial, and that is their right. But its extremely early in such a complicated case. I think that the judge would end up having a lot of problems on appeal were he to impose that early trial date on others. So, i think what we are looking at here is the likely possibility that you are going to end up with at least two, maybe three or more of these cases going to trial with different buckets of defendants. That is sort of the cost of bringing a very broad multi defendant case like this. Anna, judge mcafee denied d. A. Williss request to advise defendants who asked for a speedy trial that they may lose some rights such as notice of timely discovery. Can you walk us through what that means . What do you make of her request and the judges response . Right, so, fani willis wanted the judge to advise these defendants of kind of what they lose out on or potentially lose out on if they do demand a speedy trial. It seemed like she just wanted to basically make sure that if theres any future potential grounds for appeal on the basis of these folks, not being aware of kind of some of the consequences of requesting a speedy trial, so how it impacts, for example, Discovery Deadlines or when you can get evidence, or the deadlines for being able to submit evidence. She wanted the judge to make sure that they are aware of that. The judge said, no, not at this time. I am going to go ahead and proceed with my standard case scheduling management plan. Because some of these deadlines that you have pointed to kind of conflict the way i typically would run my cases. He said, however, if this becomes an issue, as we go forward, you can raise the matter than, and we will deal with it as it goes. So i dont think that this is something that is going to really impact how things proceed. The judges just saying we are going to follow the way that i usually run things around here. And you know, if there is something later on that you want to raise that you can. Fani willis has at least raised the issue, and kind of made it clear that she wanted these defendants to be apprized of what happens if they request a speedy trial. Molly, trump and the others not guilty pleas means that we wont be able to see their televised arraignments, which is permitted in georgia. Do you think that played a factor in their decisions . I think that everything that is public facing plays a big factor in trumps decision. I think trump is planning to play this out in the court of public opinion. Remember, what is most important for him is to win the nomination. What is most important for him is to try to win the presidency. Because he sees that as his last best hope to not be in jail. So, i think hes going to do everything he can to help his position with the base. And also to help his president ial campaign. Remember, this is a guy who announced his presidency in the hopes that it might prevent him from being indicted. Carol, lets talk mark meadows. Hes of course trying to get his cased moved to Federal Court. He testified on monday that he was merely doing his job, as trumps Chief Of Staff, when he participated in what the prosecutors have alleged as a campaign to overturn votes in georgia. Does this actually help Fulton County prosecutors . It may, ayman, just for context, if things were complicated enough, mark meadows is trying to get his Georgia Prosecution moved over to Federal Court. So his State Charges would be tried in Federal Court, and it doesnt mean that a future president could pardon him, because they will be georgia charges, not federal charges. But when he testified on monday, he needed to establish to the judges satisfaction that to the actions he took in georgia were really actions that were within his federal duties. And if the judge is not convinced of that, then he would move that Georgia State prosecution over to Federal Court. But in testifying the way he did, he really had to essentially lay the blame on donald trump. He had to say, i was just doing my job as Chief Of Staff to donald trump. I was making phone calls for him. I was arranging meetings for him. These were all in the course of my duties as a federal officer. What fani willis did was she put a number of Georgia State folks on, and including Brad Raffensperger to say weve never seen anything like this. He was definitely working outside of his realm as a federal official. So the judge is going to have to make this decision. But weve now seen what mark meadows would testify, and we now have his statement in a transcript that d. A. Willis can use, even if he decides not to testify at his trial or Donald Trumps trial in Georgia State court. She can use that statement, because he is a coconspirator. It comes in under the conspiracy laws. Carol, can i ask you really quickly, you are saying it would still be in Georgia State law that he is being charged with, and the punishment is not pardonable by the president. What does he gain by getting this case moved to a Federal Court . Is it simply the broader jury pool that he will be able to or that the defense will be able to choose from . Is that the only benefit he gets . There are a couple of things. Theres the jury pool, of course, that you mentioned. Theres also the fact that as we see, the georgia judge has said that the proceedings and a trial can be televised. That is not going to be happening in Federal Court, most likely. It just it doesnt happen in Federal Court. And it couldnt be because his lawyers may be more comfortable in Federal Court. The federal laws, Federal Court laws are the same throughout the United States. But every state has its own corkey laws. And they may not feel as comfortable there. But its also a way to get away from the rest of the defendants, and make sure that they are not in the same courtroom with all the other defendants. Fair enough, anna, after meadowss testimony on monday, a judge asked for additional arguments which were submitted thursday, i believe. Your takeaways from those. Did they give you any clues about which way the judge is leaning . And we know when he will issue a decision . Right, so the judge asked for additional briefing on this issue of whether he finds that some of these, what is called overt acts in the indictment, if he finds that some of those overt acts that are alleged to be committed by meadows, if some of those were within the scope of meadows office. Is that sufficient to get meadows into Federal Court . So what that tells me is that the judge thinks that there is at least some things in the indictment that are alleged about meadows that maybe are things that he did within his duties as Chief Of Staff. And fani willis responded by saying, you know, these overt acts under georgias rico law, which is what meadows is charged with, they are not necessary to show in order to have meadows be convicted of the charge. So, therefore, even if some of these overt acts were committed within the scope of his office, its not sufficient for him to use that as a hook to get into Federal Court. Of course, meadows naturally responded with the opposite argument. But i think that it tells me that judge jones is really thinking carefully about this issue. I think that we are going to maybe see a little bit of time a pass here, before he comes out with an opinion. Because it is such an unsettled area of law. I think that one of these big issues, and big questions, is going to be one act by meadows within the scope of his office, cannot get him into Federal Court . And it may just bring all of the other defendants with him as well. So, i think that that is what is on his mind with this order. Molly, lets take a step back away from this specifics of this meadows case. And just broadly speaking, i want to get your reaction to brian kemp, the georgia Governors Press conference, in which he basically accused his fellow republicans of engaging in political theater for going after fani willis, when he hasnt seen her do or say anything wrong as of yet. What do you make of that dynamic that is unfolding between brian kemp and the broader trump gop . That was an incredible moment. I think it really shows how far down the rabbit hole this Republican Party has gone. Right . The idea that we are going to celebrate brian kemp, for not firing fani willis. We are in end times here. Yes, good for him for doing his job. And not politicizing the office. We can think of a lot of republican governors who would have taken this opportunity to go full maga and totally flout the rule of law. The reason why brian kemp is there is because he was supported by people who said, you know, you standing up to trumps okay. He was able to sort of find his way through the maga world, and get reelected. So he knows the people were keeping him in that office. And he also knows hes in a purple state. This is not necessarily. He knows he could theoretically lose. They have two blue senators there. So i wouldnt reward his bravery, but it is nice to know that theres a little there are a few republicans who are not willing to completely burn the whole house down. I want to say, to your point, the fact that we have to praise brian kemp for not firing a prosecutor shows you just how far down the road we have gone with this Republican Party. That its almost we expect a republican governor to just bend over for maga and to actually fire fani willis at their request. Glad he did not as of yet. But anna bower, carol lam, thank you both. Molly, stick around were going to talk to a little bit later. Still to come, if trumps plan to overturn the election would have worked, it would have emboldened White Supremacists in georgia. That is according to black voters, latosha brown, shes going to be here to make the case. First my coworker richard lui is going to be here. The Survey Damage from hurricane idalia, firsthand in florida during a briefing he called on congress to provide more fema funding. Governor ron desantis opted not to attend. Bill richardson, former governor of new mexico, and u. N. Ambassador has died at 75. He helped release americans detained abroad, including britney griner, and received multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. In a statement, President Biden said he seized every chance to serve, and met every new challenge with joy. And Jimmy Buffett has died at 76. The singer turned his beach inspired music into A Billion Dollar margaritaville empire. 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The georgia indictment was a full circle moment for many people of color in that state. Vindication for what marginalized voters experienced firsthand for so long. Blatant and targeted voter suppression. Its something democracy defenders and Voting Rights activists have been fighting for decades, ramped up after donald trump tried to subvert the will of the voters in 2020. Black voters matter cofounder, latosha brown, is one of those organizers and apiece for nbc she argues that if trumps georgia plan wouldve worked, it wouldve emboldened White Supremacists, quote, it wouldve sent a message to White Supremacists that it was open season on the right of black voters. But what we know, what weve always known, is that black voters stand up for what is right. Even when centuries of oppression and hate have tried to prove otherwise. But brown says that if we only use this moment to focus on trump, then we have missed the mark. Im going to ask her why, joining me now of course is latosha brown, cofounder of the black voters matter fund. Its great to have you, great