Former President Donald Trump is seeking to sever his criminal election interference case in Georgia from any of his 18 co-defendants who are demanding that the case proceed quickly to trial, a Thursday court filing showed.

The request in Fulton County Superior Court came less than two hours after Trump pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal counts in the sprawling case accusing him of trying to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in Georgia’s 2020 election.

Trump earlier Thursday also waived his right to appear at his arraignment scheduled for next week.

Defense attorney Steven Sadow argued in the new filing that Trump will not have enough time to prepare if his trial begins Oct. 23, the date that has been set for co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro.

A handful of GOP senators is weighing whether to force a fraught internal debate about their leadership’s future after Mitch McConnell’s second public freeze-up in a month.

Some rank-and-file Republicans have discussed the possibility of a broader conversation once senators return to Washington next week, according to a person directly involved in the conversations who confirmed them on condition of anonymity. Party leadership is not currently involved in those discussions, and nothing has been decided yet, this person added.

It takes just five Republican senators to force a special conference meeting, which is the most direct way to have a specific discussion about the minority leader after his public pause on Wednesday revived questions about his condition. But the Senate GOP also holds private lunches two or three times a week, giving members another forum for hashing out the direction of the party’s leadership — one that could forestall the need for a special confab.

And McConnell’s health is a touchy subject: The 81-year-old, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, doesn’t like to discuss it. Even detractors of the Kentucky Republican’s leadership style are sensitive to the health issues he faces after falling in March and suffering a concussion.

Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed Thursday that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow paid for private jet trips for Thomas in 2022 to attend a speech in Texas and a vacation at Crow’s luxurious New York estate, according to newly released financial disclosure forms.

In one instance, Thomas said he took the private transportation in May because of “increased security risk” following the leak of the Dobbs opinion that had occurred a few days earlier.

The forms also amend prior reports to include information that had been “inadvertently omitted” from past forms including a real estate deal between Thomas and Crow back in 2014.

Thomas made the disclosures after receiving an extension to file the yearly reports that were originally due in May 2023.

Unions representing workers on systems vital to New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey are considering walkouts, strikes and other job actions that would disrupt the commutes for thousands and thousands of people in the most densely populated region of the country.

The prospect of job actions at the region’s essential commuter networks could cause a headache for the two states’ Democratic governors — New York’s Kathy Hochul and New Jersey’s Phil Murphy — and become an unwanted distraction for President Joe Biden during his reelection campaign.

The talk comes amid a spring and summer of strikes in other industries — from actors and writers in Hollywood to nurses, doctors and professors in New York and New Jersey, with threats of more to come from New York City school bus drivers.

Many of the commuter rail unions argue they worked through the pandemic — literally keeping the trains running — and their heroism is not being rewarded with higher wages.

Top GOP donors and their allies privately are pushing Sen. Tim Scott's team for more detail about his bachelor status before deciding how much to support him in the presidential campaign, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

Why it matters: Many of the donors are in the market for a viable alternative to former President Trump — but still aren't sure about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who's running second to Trump in GOP polls. Scott, 57, is among those trying to woo such fundraisers.

The U.S. hasn't elected an unmarried person as president in 139 years. It's typical for candidates to trot out their families to try to enhance their appeal to voters.

Scott's reluctance to say much about his private life has raised concerns among some conservative Republican donors, according to the sources, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.

Blake Masters is making plans to launch another Arizona Senate bid, potentially as soon as next week, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Masters did not reply to a request for comment. Masters won the GOP nomination last year but lost to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in a critical swing state.

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s advisers say she is expected to announce a Senate campaign in early fall, though some Republicans are skeptical Lake and Masters would run for the same seat. Pinal County sheriff Mark Lamb is another GOP candidate.

Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based GOP strategist, said he talked to Masters a few months ago and he “was pretty decisively in.” However, he said, Masters had been waiting for Lake to decide whether to run.

Harrison Floyd, the only co-defendant in the Georgia election case who was not released after surrendering, has negotiated his bail, according to court records.

A judge signed off on a $100,000 bond agreement for Floyd on Tuesday, five days after he was detained at the Fulton County Jail. Floyd has not been released as of Wednesday morning, according to jail records.

A leader of Black Voices for Trump, Floyd is accused of trying to convince Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman to make false statements about election operations on Election Day 2020, under the guise of offering her help.

He is charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings and influencing witnesses.