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August 15, 2023
Former US President Donald Trump has been accused of trying to change Georgia’s electoral defeat in 2020.
I and 18 other people were indicted on racketeering charges in a 41-count document in the Fulton County Grand Jury case.
The indictment marks the fourth time Mr. Trump has been criminally charged this year alone.
I reject allegations in all cases.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is launching an investigation into election interference allegations against Trump and his associates in February 2021.
The defendants indicted late Monday night include former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House counsel John Eastman and a former Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark.
The indictment says the alleged co-conspirators “knowingly and intentionally joined in a conspiracy to unlawfully change the election results in favor of Trump.”
The indictment also describes the defendants as a “criminal organization” and accuses them of a number of crimes, including:
- False statements and writings
- Impersonate an official
- Fake
- Submitting false documents
- Influencing witnesses
- Computer misuse
- Conspiracy to defraud the state
- Theft and perjury.
The most serious charge, violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico), carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Di Act – designed to help bring down organized crime syndicates like the Mafia – help prosecutors connect the dots between underlings who break the law and those who give them marching orders.
Trump, currently the front-runner in the Republican Party’s race to choose its next White House nominee, said the investigation into Ms. Willis, a Democrat, was politically motivated.
In a statement, the Trump campaign called the district attorney a “rabid partisan” and made “these false charges” to interfere with the 2024 presidential election and “harm the dominant Trump campaign.”
“This latest coordinated attack by a biased prosecutor on a democratic judiciary not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also reveals the true motivation behind her trumped-up allegations,” the statement said.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willi
Confusion reigned earlier Monday when a list of criminal charges against Trump appeared on a Fulton County website and the grand jury even voted to return an indictment.
The documents state that Trump bin dey is charged with racketeering, conspiracy to defraud and making false statements.
A spokesman for Ms Willis said the document was “fictitious” but did not explain how it ended up on the court’s website.
Trump and his allies seized on the apparent clerical error and claimed the process was rigged.
Trump has already been charged by federal prosecutors in Washington DC with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, losing to President Joe Biden, a Democrat. This indictment devotes significant time to the Trump team’s activities in Georgia.
Ms. Willis’s investigation is particularly focused on Georgia, a key battleground state for the U.S. presidency where Mr. Trump narrowly loses.
In January 2021, they told Trump in a phone call that they told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes so they would have to beat Biden in that state.
At least eight “fake voters” signed a fake certificate claiming that Trump won the election in that state and failed to reach immunity deals if they agreed to interviews with Fulton County prosecutors.
