Former president Donald Trump reversed course on the decision to move his election-interference case in Fulton County, Ga., to federal court three weeks after floating the idea, according to a court filing on Thursday.
Trump told the state court presiding over his case on September 7 that he was considering taking the trial to federal court; he had until Friday to file his decision. According to his lawyer, he decided to stay in Fulton County’s jurisdiction for the trial.
“President Trump now notifies the Court that he will not be seeking to remove his case to federal court,” Trump attorney Steven Sadow wrote one day ahead of the deadline. “This decision is based on his well-founded confidence that this Honorable Court intends to fully and completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial and guarantee him due process of law throughout the prosecution of his case in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia.”
Last month, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants on 41 criminal counts pertaining to the former president’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and their alleged violation of the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in Georgia. Trump faces 13 charges as part of the case.
Other defendants named in Trump’s fourth and latest indictment included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and several members of Trump’s former legal team: Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro.
Earlier this month, a federal judge rejected a request from Meadows to move his involvement in the election case from Georgia state court to federal court.
All 19 defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Now that the former president is not seeking to move the case to federal court anymore, the RICO trial can be televised and livestreamed from Fulton County for public viewing. In August, a Fulton County superior court judge ruled that the media can cover the trial, an opportunity that would not have been available under a federal court.
Trump’s Georgia trial date has not been set yet, although Powell and Chesebro are scheduled to appear in court on October 23.