'Oil and water': Two of Trump's Georgia co-defendants trial to start Oct. 23. Trump asks for more time to prepare

A Georgia judge agreed Wednesday to start the trial Oct. 23 for two of Donald Trump’s co-defendants charged with racketeering for trying to overturn the 2020 election, but hasn't yet set a schedule for the other 17 co-defendants including the former president.

Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro and lawyer Sidney Powell each asked to separate their trials from the others and to have them as fast as possible. But Chesebro and Powell hadn't wanted to be tried together because they each face a half-dozen allegations that have nothing to do with each other.

“The issue is going to be confusion," said Manny Arora, one of Chesebro's lawyers. “We don’t have similar charges. It’s completely different."

But prosecutors argued the overarching racketeering indictment means that participants in the criminal enterprise don't have to know everything that everyone else was allegedly doing.

“Evidence against one is evidence against all," said Will Wooten, deputy district attorney. “The conspiracy evolved. One thing didn’t work so we move on to the next thing."

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee ruled that customary reasons to separate their cases, such as evidence against one defendant hurting another defendant, don't apply in this case because the indictment alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy.

McAfee asked prosecutors to file arguments by Tuesday about their goal of trying all 19 defendants at the same time. Trump has already opposed that, with his lawyers saying they don't have enough time to prepare for such a complicated case.

Prosecutors estimated a trial for all 19 co-defendants would last four months − not counting jury selection, which could be lengthy. The trial could hinder Trump's campaign for president in 2024.

Why does Sidney Powell want a separate trial?

Powell has pleaded not guilty and was the first to ask Aug. 30 for a separate trial. Besides the overarching racketeering charge, Powell faces six conspiracy charges to commit election fraud, computer theft, computer trespass and defrauding the state by allegedly tampering with computer equipment in Coffee County, Georgia.

“Her demand for a speedy trial cannot be trumped," said her lawyer, Brian Rafferty.

Powell has argued she wasn’t working for Trump or his campaign, despite attending White House meetings with Trump and news conferences to discuss alleged election fraud.

The indictment said a White House meeting Dec. 18, 2020, with Trump included discussion of making Powell a special counsel with broad power to investigate allegations of voter fraud. But the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021, found White House lawyers "vehemently opposed" her appointment during the "highly charged" meeting and the assignment was never formally made.

Powell said she met with Trump to discuss an executive order about election interference, according to her court filing. The House committee reported Powell argued the executive order gave Trump the authority to seize voting machines.

Powell acknowledged her typed name appeared on a contract with Sullivan Strickler for forensic computer analysis in Michigan and Arizona, and that a nonprofit she founded paid an invoice from the vendor, according to her court filing. But she argued there was no contract covering work in Coffee County and she didn’t request that project.

“She had no contact with most of her purported conspirators and rarely agreed with those she knew or spoke with,” Rafferty wrote in requesting a separate trial. “Ms. Powell can receive a fair trial only if she is tried alone.”

Rafferty had estimated Powell’s trial could be conducted in three days.

Why does Trump oppose a speedy trial in Georgia?

Trump asked on Aug. 31 to separate his case from co-defendants who asked for speedy trials, including Chesebro and Powell.

Trump faces 13 charges including soliciting public officials to violate their oaths of office, filing false statements in a federal lawsuit and conspiracies involving the recruitment of alternate presidential electors to vote for him even though President Joe Biden won Georgia. Trump pleaded not guilty.

Trump’s lawyer, Steven Sadow, argued that two months was too little time to prepare for trial on a 98-page indictment spanning 161 acts by 19 co-defendants dealing with a variety of charges.

Why does Kenneth Chesebro want a separate trial?

Chesebro had argued his case has nothing to do with Powell's, so they should not be tried together. Besides the overarching racketeering charge, Chesebro faces six conspiracy charges for developing the legal strategy to have alternate electors vote for Trump. Chesebro pleaded not guilty.

Chesebro's lawyers argued he’s never met Powell or exchanged emails or texts with her, and never visited Coffee County, where the bulk of her charges are focused. Chesebro wrote emails analyzing the Electoral Count Act and the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.

“We have nothing to do with the actual shenanigans – allegations, whatever – in the the state of Georgia themselves,” Arora said.

Chesebro denied he was the “architect of the Trump elector scheme” in a court filing. His involvement was limited to sending 18 emails, receiving one and attacking one meeting in Wisconsin, he said in a court filing.

“The actions of Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell are kin to oil and water; wholly separate and impossible to mix (into one conspiracy),” Chesebro’s lawyers wrote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Two of Donald Trump's Georgia co-defendants get Oct. 23 trial date