Former US President Donald Trump
Eko Hot Blog reports that a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, United States (US) has indicted former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen of his associates for election fraud, racketeering and other charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump, the first former president in US history to face criminal charges, has now been charged in four separate cases involving allegations that bookend his presidency.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at a news conference earlier Tuesday morning that arrest warrants have been issued for all the defendants in the case, and that they have until noon on August 25 to turn themselves in.
“The state’s role in this process is essential to the functioning of our democracy,” Willis said.
“Georgia, like every state, has laws that allow those who believe that results of the election are wrong, whether because of intentional wrongdoing, or unintentional error to challenge those results in state courts,” she said. But rather than abiding by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, she said, the defendants “engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to over Georgia’s presidential election result subsequent to the indictment.”
Willis said the racketeering charges have “time that you have to serve, so it’s not a probated sentence,” meaning that if convicted, the defendants will be sentenced to prison time.
The prosecutor also noted that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
The indictment names Trump as the top defendant and 18 others, including Rudy Giuliani, his former lawyer; John Eastman, a conservative lawyer; and Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff. Other co-defendants include Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official; and Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, conservative lawyers who pushed baseless claims of voter fraud.
The filing lists 41 total counts, including 13 against Trump, and notes there are 30 unindicted co-conspirators. In all, 19 defendants are charged with “the offense of violation of the Georgia RICO Act,” among other charges.
The 98-page indictment describes several schemes allegedly used by Trump and his co-defendants to attempt to reverse his electoral loss, including making false statements to state legislatures and top state officials; creating fake Electoral College documents and recruiting supporters to cast false votes at the Georgia Capitol; harassing Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman; and “corruptly” soliciting senior Justice Department officials and then-Vice President Mike Pence.
It also accuses members of the “enterprise” of stealing data, including ballot images, voting equipment software and personal voter information, from Coffee County, Georgia, and making false statements to government investigators.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement Monday night, attorneys for Trump criticized the investigation, saying “this one-sided grand jury presentation relied on witnesses who harbor their own personal and political interests.”
“We look forward to a detailed review of this indictment which is undoubtedly just as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire process has been,” said the attorneys, Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg.
The charges against Trump
The indictment charges Trump with the following felony counts:
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