Washington, Sep 1 (EFE).- Former New York City Mayor and Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Friday pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in a court in Georgia for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections in the state.
Giuliani, one of the 19 defendants in the election case in the southern US state, also waived his right to appear at an arraignment hearing, scheduled for Sep. 6.
Giuliani, who was also Trump’s former campaign adviser, faces 13 charges like the ex-Republican president.
He is credited with playing a key role in Trump’s post-election efforts to declare himself the winner, with baseless claims of fraud and calls for lawmakers to violate their oath of office and put forward illegitimate Republican electors.
At least eight of the defendants, including Trump, have pleaded not guilty in the case.
On Thursday, in a court document filed by his lawyers, Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and “freely and voluntarily” waived his right to be present at the formal arraignment.
To indict Trump and his 18 former allies, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, used the RICO law, commonly used against mafia bosses and designed to ensure that the leaders of a criminal enterprise, not just their subordinates, are held accountable to the law.
Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges and has already been indicted four times this year.
In addition to the Georgia election case, he has also been indicted by a Washington DC grand jury on four counts of allegedly trying to reverse the outcome of the US election.
Trump has been charged in New York with 34 counts for alleged “hush money” payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an “affair” in the past, to buy her silence during the 2016 election campaign.
The other criminal case is in Florida, where he is charged with 40 counts for illegally removing and keeping classified documents that he took from the White House in his Mar-a-Lago mansion. EFE
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