Hi, everybody. It's four o'clock in New York. I'm Ali Velsi in again for Nicole Wallace. I am got my phone in my hand because we have brand new news in out of Fulton County, Georgia that I am working with my producers and our legal experts to make sense of for you. I want to just read it to you. It is a filing that has just been uploaded by the Fulton County District Attorney. It is a record

request to the court. The salient part here is that the court, the Fulton County District Attorney is asking that the trial for all 19 defendants get underway on October 23rd. This was the date that it was set for cheese bros trial. It was severed and it was granted. It was a speedy trial request. There are a few other defendants who are making the same request.

We want to try everybody together. We're ready to go and we ask that you no longer say that the request that was granted to cheese bro, Ken cheese bro is specific to him and does not apply to the any to any of the other co defendants. What we are seeing here is a request that the trial go forward starting on October the 23rd. I want to get to our reporters and our legal experts now to make sense of this because this is my interpretation of it, which could prove to be entirely incorrect.

I don't know, Glenn, this literally came out about a minute before the show started. I don't know if you had a chance to read it or make sense of it, but tell me what you know.

I had your producer read it into my ear just moments ago, Ali. So I think I understand what's going on here. So under Georgia state law, a speedy trial means that a defendant should be taken to trial during the present term of court or the next term of court.

That would be the end of October. We already know defendant cheese bro made a speedy trial demand. His trial has been set for October 23rd. We know Sidney Powell made a speedy trial demand. We are all assuming that she will then be batched together with cheese bro for that October 23rd trial. That's the natural thing to do batch co defendants together.

Funny Willis has now said we're ready to go to trial. The speedy trial law is what it is. And we are prepared to give all 19 co defendants a speedy trial. And we would like them all set for trial on October 23rd. What I predict Ali is that is going to result in a chorus of voices from many of these co defendants saying not so fast. We're not demanding a speedy trial.

In fact, we're prepared to wave our speedy trial rights. And we're going to need far more time to prepare. It will be really interesting now to see what judge McAfee does. Now that funny Willis is prepared to give everyone their speedy trial.

I'm going to work through this with you while you're with me. I'm reading from this document. It says on August 25th, 2023 defendant Sidney Catherine Powell also filed a speedy trial demand.

The state maintains its position that severance is improper at this juncture and that all defendants should be tried together. But at an absolute minimum, the court should set defendant Powell's trial and that of any other defendant who may file a speedy trial demand on the same date as defendant cheese bro.

So this is in sync with what you were just telling me. But the argument that she is making that the judge is going to have to consider severance is improper. What's the basis of arguing that severance in a case like this is improper?

So Ali, anytime we indict a co-defendant case, the prosecutors have a keen interest in keeping all defendants in the same trial. The defendants ordinarily have a keen interest in trying to get themselves removed from or severed out of the joint trial. Why is that?

Because any time co-defendants are tried separate from their fellow co-defendants, and I've had this happen many times as a prosecutor, they will make what we call the empty chair defense.

So I can almost promise you that one of, for example, defendant cheese bro's defenses, if he is sitting there either alone or maybe with Sidney Powell and one or two other co-conspirators charged co-defendants, I can almost see him saying, you know what?

John Eastman, the constitutional scholar, the law school dean who should be sitting in that empty chair right there, but he's not.

He is the true architect behind the alternate elector scheme because he assured me there was legal support for it. I'm not saying that's a winning argument. I'm not even saying it's a factually supportable argument, but pointing to the empty chair and saying the person who should be sitting here, another charged co-defendant, is the far more culpable person.

Often can resonate with jurors as a factual matter, maybe give them some reasonable doubt, maybe hang up just one juror, so it's a hung jury rather than a unanimous verdict.

So prosecutors always try to keep co-defendants together, co-defendants always try to split themselves out from the pack.

And by the way, I've got Tamara Hellerman from the Atlanta Journal Constitution here. I've got Carol Lennon here. We're going to get to you guys in a second because this just came out so I want to squeeze all the juice I can out of Glenn on this.

Glenn, Georgia says you're entitled if you ask for and are granted a treaty trial to get it in the current court session or the next court session, which is how we arrived at this date of October the 23rd.

There's no correlating law that you have to do your trial fast, right? So if any of these 19 co-defendants say, definitely not interested in starting on October 23rd, are they likely to get that wish granted?

Yeah, the reality is, Ali, that these are discretionary calls by the judge. So if a defendant says, no, no, no, I want to waive my right to a speedy trial, rarely.

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