Updated: 12.05 pm Eastern
A Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury indicted Donald J. Trump Monday night, as well as 18 other people, for engaging in a conspiracy to overturn the result of the 2020 election result “on and between” November 4, 2020 through September 2022.
Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, told the Miami Herald, “There may be no greater threat to Trump’s liberty than a Fulton County jury willing to convict him.”
Added Morgan Cloud, a law professor at Emory University: “Mr. Trump doesn’t have the tools available to stop this from moving forward, even up through sentencing.”
For example, no federal pardons for state-level crimes. The Republican governor cannot pardon him, either.
Fulton County District Fani Willis led the two-year investigation which centered on the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act. One element? Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) on January 2, 2021.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said. “Because we won the state.”
The Georgia RICO Act, enacted in 1980, has a broader scope than the federal law.
The federal statute, for instance, requires that prosecutors show proof that there is a threat of ongoing racketeering activity. In Georgia, only two related acts are needed to prove a pattern.
In addition, “[t]he indictment spells out 161 separate acts that prosecutors say were taken to further the alleged criminal conspiracy, including events like Rudy Giuliani’s false testimony about election fraud to Georgia lawmakers in early December.”
Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump. That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.
This is Trump’s fourth indictment in the last four and a half months.
The indictment lists the following felony counts against Trump:
- Conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer
- Conspiracy to commit false statements and writings
- Conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree
- Filing false documents
- Three counts of solicitation of violation of oath by public officer
- Two counts of conspiracy to commit filing false documents
- Two counts of false statements and writings
- Violating the Georgia RICO Act
- Attorney, Jenna Ellisn
- Attorney, John Eastman
- Attorney, Kenneth Chesebro
- Attorney, Ray Smith
- Attorney, Robert Cheeley
- Attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani
- Attorney, Sidney Powell
- Black Voices for Trump leader Harrison Floyd
- Coffee County elections supervisor, Misty Hampton
- Coffee County elections systems breach, Scott Hall
- Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark
- Fake elector, Cathy Latham, then head of the Coffee County (GA) Republican Party
- Fake elector, David Shafer, the former chair of the state Republican Party
- Fake elector, State Senator Shawn Still
- Pastor tied to intimidation of election workers, Stephen Lee
- Publicist tied to intimidation of election workers, Trevian Kutti
- Trump campaign official Mike Roman
- White House chief of staff Mark Meadows
In other news, 11 Republican-affiliated former high-ranking federal senior legal officials and judges have filed an amicus brief supporting the proposed January 2, 2024, trial date for the federal election interference criminal case against Donald Trump led by special counsel Jack Smith.
- Who is Fani Willis, the district attorney focused on Trump’s election interference in Georgia?
- A guide to Trump’s 78 felony charges. Plus, what this means for 2024.
- If Trump is convicted, should he go to prison? Will he?
Featured image: caricature via MidJourney with prompt by Kathy Gill
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com