sidney powell and kenneth cheseboro, despite arguments from their attorneys to separate their cases. >> her charges are way more provocative versus the boring old charges we have as far as the paperwork tape situation. >> what he's accused of has nothing to do with miss powell. sever the case so she can get a fair trial. >> judge mcafee was not buying that. he said they did not meet the legal standard to separate their cases. now the plan is to make their october 23rd trial date stick. we could hear more from the judge, mcafee, overseeing all of this soon about the rest of the trial and what it looks like. what does this mean for donald trump? he was seen in new york city this morning, today, emerging from trump tower after saying in an interview that he will happily testify on the stand in his own defense. first, i am joined by former governor duncan, and former prosecutor elie honig. we watched these arguments from the attorneys, getting a sense of what the prosecutors said. >> it was so interesting. it brought me back to my prosecutor days. the biggest takeaway, the defendants had

this is related specifically to two co-defendants, kenneth cheseboro and sidney powell. we're waiting to hear more from the prosecutors. but elie honig, as you're listening to what kenneth cheseboro's attorneys are arguing and sidney powell's attorneys are arguing for why their cases should be tried separately, known as severing it, what do you make of what cheseboro's attorney was arguing, kind of downplaying his arguments? >> yeah, what he is arguing here, cheseboro and powell both separately, is this is a sprawling indictment spanning really what they argue is three different conspiracies and each of our clients is involved in a relatively small piece of it. essentially what they're arguing is if this was all a movie the two people here, cheseboro and powell, will never be in the same scene of that movie. yes, they're in the same cast. yes, they're in the same movie. but they'll never appear together in the telling of this case. and therefore, they're saying we ought to be tried separately in the interests of fairness. >> and karen, the most significant thing that we

so we will be seeing this trial of kenneth cheseboro and sydney powell.king, as you indicated, about evidence that will show the entire scope of the rico conspiracy. when you are charged with a rico conspiracy, the entire scope of it is imputed to you. so that really will be a preview for the other defendants. he took some care to do a couple of other things in his order. he said these defendants, nine of those who asked for severance have already said they were willing to waive their speedy trial rights, and that if anyone did not waive their speedy trial rights by october 23rd, then they're going to trial with kenneth cheseboro and sydney powell. what he doesn't want to happen is a piecemeal bit by bit assertion of speedy trial rights, causing a new trial to start every month and completely muck up the works in the courthouse. the other thing that he did that i think was important, he said these people who have moved for removal, even while the roofls are pending in front of judge jones, while appeals are pending because mr. meadows has appealed the den

. >> reporter: it came in a hearing where two of the defendants, lawyers sidney powell and kenneth cheseboro, each asked to stand trial alone, and earlier than the others. powell had pushed the false conspiracy theory that georgia election machines were controlled by venezuela. >> what we are really dealing with here and uncovering more by the day is the massive influence of communist money through venezuela, cuba, and likely china. >> reporter: today, her lawyer saying powell played at most a small role in the broader conspiracy alleged. >> ms. powell had nothing to do with it. ms. powell had nothing to do with false statements to state legislators, nothing to do with false statements to high-ranking government officials. >> reporter: chesebro allegedly plotted to keep trump in power using fake electors to falsely certify trump won georgia. his attorney arguing there's no reason to try him alongside anyone else. >> the state wants to make this case about donald trump. donald trump is one of 19 defendants. ken cheseboro is another one. >> reporter: but prosecutors argue even if they had limi

people are trying to figure out whether they want to go on trial perhaps with sidney powell and kenneth cheseboro or wait to go on trial with donald trump. >> to complicate matters even more, former trump chief of staff mark meadows is waiting to hear whether a district judge will grant his move to have his case go from georgia to federal court. when are we going to hear about that decision? >> reporter: that decision could come at any moment. the judge there really has been -- has a lot of things that are riding on that decision. one of the things that could happen, jake, is that if he rules that meadows' case has to be moved to federal court, that could mean that all of the defendants get to move their case to federal court. they all move together, as one case. now, the other issue is that you have a number of other defendants, jeffrey clark and others, who are also making the same request. they have hearings coming up before the federal judge. so, again, we don't know when he's going to rule, but there is a lot that is riding on whatever decision he makes. >> evan, thank you so much. let's tal

that date was set for the speedy trial of co-defendant kenneth cheseboro.ts, as well. when the date is officially set, there will be cameras in the courtroom, the decision confirmed by the judge yesterday. hearings and proceedings relatded to the case will be televised and live streamed on the youtube channel. glenn, i'll start with you. let's talk about donald trump waiving the arraignment, pleading guilty, no surprise there. what about severing his case from the others? what do you read into that? >> not a surprise. we have motions to sever, essentially defendants saying, look, judge, i want you to break me out from the pack. i want a separate trial." they want to separate themselves from the people they believe might be more culpable. they don't want evidence spilling over on them in a joint trial. with respect to donald trump's decision to forego a personal appearance at his arraignment, i have a feeling, you know, all along, donald trump has been, you know, waging this battle, really in a court of public opinion, not in a court of law. so he may have m

new york attorney kenneth cheseboro was also a focus due to his alleged role coordinating the plan andn, cheseboro sent an e-mail to mike roman, trump's national campaign director, the day before the fake electors scheme. cheseboro wrote that giuliani wants to keep this quiet until after all the voting is done, according to the indictment. cheseboro's attorneys said he was asked by the trump campaign to provide advice and was not privy to the private communications of other individuals that are cited in the indictment. >> there was legal structure to this. there was constitutional structure to this. there was logistics. there was secrecy. there's no doubt in my mind that this started in the oval office. and worked its way outward. >>> coming up -- inside the plot to seize voting data. >> really a who's who of election deniers. >> all caught on tape. >> they spend hours inside this restricted room in the elections restricted room in the elections office.o! that's what i'm talkin' about! (josh allen) is this your plan to watch the game today? (hero fan) uh, yea. i have to watch my neighb

ruling wednesday that defendants kenneth cheseboro and sidney powell, who both filed for a speedy trial be separated and will stand trial in weeks. >> we're disappointed. we filed a motion and it was denied. but we respect the court's ruling. >> reporter: now the issue before the court is whether it's realistic that all 19 defendants, including former president donald trump, be tried together. >> to say that all 19 defendants should be tried together, including ones that don't want to avail themselves of the speedy trial demand, is really just nonsensical. >> reporter: district attorney fani willis said from the beginning she wants to do just that. >> do i intend to try the 19 defendants in this indictment together? yes. >> reporter: but the judge expressing skepticism in court wednesday about that plan, and whether they can put on a massive trial for all the defendants as soon as october 23rd. the date now on the calendar for powell and chesebro. >> we say there's no severance, aren't we going to have 17 defense attorneys get up here and file motions for a continue wans saying they're

but we will see the judge there, scott mcafee, hold a hearing for sidney powell and kenneth cheseboro essentially on their arguments about severing the case and whatnot. but what's notable is it's going to be televised. tomorrow we will see what is going to happen. do you think people being able to actually watch that will affect how they view this? >> i think it might, kaitlan. so much of this has been behind closed doors or in a way you that can't see in real time and it's being relayed tlohrough usn the media. and i think for the public to be able to see this is important. i am very pro cameras in courtrooms in general. i think journalists generally are. but i do think this is an important moment in terms of people understanding what's taking place and forming their own opinions. it's going to be a lot harder for defendants in these cases to say this is going through a filter and this is somehow tainted in terms of public understanding when it's televised. >> and these are people who trump is not paying their legal fees. like in the other cases that we see. what is your sense of th

that date was set for the speedy trial of co-defendant kenneth cheseboro.ants, as well. there will be cameras in the courtroom. that decision confirmed by the judge yesterday. hearings and proceedings related to the case will be televised and live streamed on the court's youtube channel. so, chuck, let's take first the idea of donald trump severing his case from the others. kenneth cheseboro, it appears, will get what he wants, fani willis saying, sure, october 23rd, we're ready to go. what about the idea of parceling these trials out, which is probably not going to happen, but what about donald trump at a much later date? >> i don't know about a much later date, but he can carve it out. october 23rd is quick, even from me, coming from a district where things move quick. if the government is ready to go, and cheseboro wants october 23rd, that's fine for him. other defendants, including mr. trump, it really is not enough time. so i don't think an ask for more time, to push it past october 23rd, is unreasonable. i imagine the judge will grant it. but, to your

the trial for an 18th co-defendant, kenneth cheseboro, is scheduled for late october.e trump is charged for allegedly mishandling classified documents, lawyers are set to appear for a hearing to discuss what evidence prosecutors plan to present. that case is scheduled to go to trial next may. lawyers are also expected to argue an issue related to the federal election case against trump in d.c. court this week. the exact details of the issue are under seal, but we know they're related to the former president's inflammatory comments about those involved in the case. let's bring in former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst joyce vance. joyce, clearly, it'll be a busy week on all those legal fronts. are you looking at the -- which of the cases you looking at particularly to get some kind of sense of where we might be in terms of timing with the election year coming up next? >> yeah, it's a great question, katty. i'm trying to look at all of them simultaneously, which is getting more and more difficult as the details progress. but i think in many ways, the total of the f

but sidney powell and kenneth cheseboro will be tried together. will not get the separate trials they asked for. the fate of the remaining 17 defendants isn't entirely clear, but it sounded like the judge was considering very seriously trying them together in one group. that's in large part because of this forceful argument that prosecutors make, that no matter how many separate trials are held in the georgia matter, in each one, prosecutors have to prove not just the limited number of overt acts that an individual defendant was involved in, but the entire rico conspiracy that they've charged. prosecutors say that'll take some four months. it'll involve 150 witnesses. so they took it straight to the judge and just said, "the issue, your honor, is how many times do you want to have to retry this same case?" sounds to me the judge will do it in two, at most, three tranches. >> joyce, let's talk about what the judge said about the actual process of the trial. judge mcafee expressing some skepticism that these defendants could be tried together and in

and that would be sidney powell and kenneth cheseboro.a prejudice. i don't anticipate that happening. but to your point, i think it's important to this, there are built-in delays that exist no matter what. if you consider the number of witnesses, the issues. the number of defense attorneys is going to be an issue in this case, as well. >> katie phang, thank you so much. we will be watching the katie phang show weekend mornings here on msnbc. so just to listen to her begin to describe what is playing out down there, severed cases, jury selection is taking eight months for one case in particular. >> that's right. >> how is this going to play out, how long will this take? >> i think it's fair to assume this will one take a while. that's the consequence of bringing this case against 19 indictments, 41 counts, all these defense lawyers, filing all these motions. there's no way that all 19 defendants can be tried at the same time. what would that look like in a courtroom? how do you pick a jury eight months in this other racketeering case by th