Former White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, entered a plea of not guilty on Tuesday, facing charges that accuse him of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Interestingly, he will not be appearing in an Atlanta court this week.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge, Scott McAfee, had originally scheduled arraignment hearings for Wednesday, involving Meadows, former President Donald Trump, and 17 others who were indicted last month in a wide-ranging legal case. However, by midday on Tuesday, all but one of the defendants had submitted not-guilty pleas to the court and had waived their right to an arraignment hearing.
An arraignment hearing typically involves the reading of charges against the defendants and the formal entry of their pleas.
Trump submitted his not-guilty plea in a court filing on Thursday, and Giuliani followed suit on Friday. Over the following days, the remaining pleas were submitted. The only exception was Misty Hampton, the former elections director in Coffee County, who had not yet waived her right to the arraignment.
Meadows, along with four others, is currently seeking to have the charges against them moved to federal court. However, during a hearing last week concerning Meadows’ request, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones made it clear that if he hadn’t made a ruling by the arraignment date or if the case remained in state court, Meadows would not be excused from attending the arraignment.