In TV Talk Land, Trump continues to reign supreme. Opinions all day, every day. I am sure it has been great for the former prosecutors, past and present defense attorneys, the occasional retired judge, not to mention the TV hosts/hostesses who again and again tell us they wished they had gone to law school. It pays to speak about speaking indictments.
To me, it is all about telling the story. And who doesn’t appreciate a good story? Truth is, with faulty memories, we all tell ourselves stories. Still, the extent the Trump campaign went to reverse the results of the 2020 election is a remarkable, often unbelievable story. What makes this story, told by Georgia Attorney General Fani T. Willis, different from most is that the many characters, major and minor, might end up doing time.
The beginning:
The State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump, et al. Highlighting added.
An old postcard of the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Ga.
And to cushion the stress of it all, let’s imagine we are serving in an earlier, less hectic time. With a warning: There will be moments when this story resembles an old-time Italian comedy about the world’s worst bank robbers. And you might find it hard not to laugh at what you are hearing.
There has been much speculation about which trial, and where, would first make it to a jury: Trump v. Fulton County; Trump v. Washington, D.C.; Trump v. New York, New York. A choice complicated by legal challenges and various attempts to sever one defendant from another, or switch venues from state to federal, or trying to replace some of the judges and almost all of the prosecutors. And all of this legal wrangling occurs right smack in the middle of Donald Trump’s campaign to re-occupy the Oval Office.
We now know a decision has been made. Thanks to Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee’s recent ruling in the Georgia election interference case, Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell will be separated from the other RICO defendants and face trial on October 23, 2023. And so, it’s Georgia On My Mind.
The UK Guardian explains that, even though Attorney General Fani Willis “had been pushing to try all 19 defendants together, arguing that it would be more efficient and fairer,” McAfee, the article explains, “cited the tight timetable, among other issues, as a factor in his decision to separate Trump and 16 others from Powell and Chesebro. ‘The precarious ability of the court to safeguard each defendant’s due process rights and ensure adequate pre-trial preparation on the current accelerated track weighs heavily, if not decisively, in favor of severance,’ McAfee wrote. He added that it might be necessary to further divide them into smaller groups for trial.”
So, moving to jury selection will be The State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump, et al., for the violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, in just a bit more than a month. And lucky for us, it will be televised.
A close look at the lyrics of Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell’s “Georgia On My Mind” reveals that nothing is as simple as it seems. And that might yet hold true for Donald J. Trump. Still a shoe-in for the Republican presidential nomination, it seems “other eyes smile tenderly.” But if Fani Willis has her way in Georgia, “no peace, no peace” will he find. Here is the indictment:
The State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump, et al. Highlighting added.
The General Assembly of Georgia describes RICO charges as “an interrelated pattern of criminal activity,” and this alleged conspiracy encompassed a very wide range of alleged criminal activity:
“Individual 1 through Individual 30, and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, constituted a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in various related criminal activities including, but not limited to, false statements and writings, impersonating a public officer, forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, acts involving theft, and perjury … [and] operated in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, in other states, including, but not limited to, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and in the District of Columbia …” (Emphasis added.)
Some details: On December 3, 2020, Guiliani, Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and Ray Stallings Smith III committed the felony offense of Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Office “by unlawfully soliciting, requesting, and importuning certain public officers” to unlawfully appoint false electors “in willful and intentional violation of the terms of the oath of said persons … This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
Only when you focus on what the defendants were up to do you get a real sense of their crazy scheme: “Members of the enterprise, including several of the Defendants, created false Electoral College documents and recruited individuals to convene and cast false Electoral College votes at the Georgia State Capitol, in Fulton County, on December 14, 2020 …” (Emphasis added.) Just Security has a picture of the documents created for these self-designated Georgia alternate electors:
A phony document created by Georgia’s fake electors. Image courtesy Just Security. Highlighting added.
Which sends me back to that bad Italian movie. Imagine sitting at a table, trying really hard to convince yourself that you are an actual, legitimate electoral delegate for Donald Trump. You are trying hard to pretend he won, and willing to replace Biden, whom the world believes actually won. Then you are offered a forged document, so your brain has to work double-time pretending you don’t actually know the document is a fake—knowing it won’t ever look like the real deal. Then, for some reason, you decide to sign the phony form and agree to send it to the president of the United States Senate, the U.S. Archivist, the Georgia Secretary of State, and the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The very people—no dummies—who have probably already gotten, or will soon get, the real documents from the real delegates.
December 14, 2020 filing to Georgia Governor Kemp of certification from fake alternative electors. Highlighting added.
The indictment charges:
“And the Grand Jurors aforesaid, in the name and behalf of the citizens of Georgia, do charge and accuse DONALD JOHN TRUMP, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI, JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN, KENNETH JOHN CHESEBRO, RAY STALLINGS SMITH III, ROBERT DAVID CHEELEY, and MICHAEL A. ROMAN with the offense of CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS, O.C.G.A. §§ 16- 4-8 & 16-10-20 …[who] on and between the 6th day of December 2020 and the 14th day of December 2020, unlawfully conspired to knowingly and willfully make and use a false document titled ‘CERTIFICATE OF THE VOTES OF THE 2020 ELECTORS FROM GEORGIA,’ with knowledge that said document contained the false statement, ‘WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Georgia, do hereby certify the following,’ …” (Emphasis added.)
The indictment spells out the purpose of these efforts: “The false documents were intended to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, in order to unlawfully change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald
Trump ….”
Enter Rudy Guiliani, who is charged with knowingly making these false statements to the Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, as stated in the indictment:
“1. That at least 96,600 mail-in ballots were counted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia, despite there being no record of those ballots having been returned to a county elections office; … 2. That Dominion Voting Systems equipment used in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Antrim County, Michigan, mistakenly recorded 6,000 votes for Joseph R. Biden when the votes were actually cast for Donald John Trump … This was an act of racketeering activity under O.C.G.A. § 16- 14- 3(5)(A)(xxii) and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
These false claims were quickly amplified:
“On or about the 3rd day of December 2020, RAY STALLINGS SMITH III committed the felony offense of FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS … by knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making at least one of the following false statements and representations to members of the Georgia Senate present at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee meeting:
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- “That 2,506 felons voted illegally in the November 3,2020, presidential election in Georgia; 2. That 66,248 underage people illegally registered to vote before their seventeenth birthday prior to the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
- “That at least 2,423 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were not listed as registered to vote;
- “That 1,043 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who had illegally registered to vote using a post office box;
- “That 10,315 or more dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
- “That Fulton County election workers at State Farm Arena ordered poll watchers and members of the media to leave the tabulation area on the night of November 3, 2020, and continued to operate after ordering everyone to leave …”
On December 3, 2020, in “an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” Donald Trump used these false statements to mislead the entire nation:
Donald Trump tweets on Dec. 3, 2020 about lies of Georgia ballot stuff. Highlighting added.
For those who want to believe this Georgia indictment is just another attempt to criminalize a difference of political opinion, a Democratic attempt to punish a former Republican president who continues to pose a political threat, the indictment makes clear that, though far from the violence of the insurrection in D.C, there were real human victims of intimidation and threats of violence in Georgia. Unfortunately, Rudy Guiliani transformed uninspired fantasy into viciousness, accusing two Fulton County election workers with thievery while counting votes:
“That Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and an unidentified man were ‘quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine’ at State Farm Arena to be used to ‘infiltrate the crooked Dominion voting machines’ …” (Emphasis added.)
This was the bad Italian movie turning from funny to cruel. Except the drive wasn’t what he said, but instead just a harmless mint masquerading as a USB drive.
Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Lady Ruby Freeman, before the January 6 Committee.
Sadly, the price paid by Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman was just beginning, as humiliation turned to harassment:
“These false accusations were repeated to Georgia legislators and other Georgia officials in an effort to persuade them to unlawfully change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. In furtherance of this scheme, members of the enterprise traveled from out of state to harass Freeman, intimidate her, and solicit her to falsely confess to election crimes that she did not commit.” (Emphasis added.)
Several additional charges make clear how extensive the efforts were to silence and punish and persuade Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss not to testify to the Grand Jury. If I ever doubted the decision to prosecute these actions as a wide-ranging RICO conspiracy, these doubts disappeared as I read these charges:
“On or about the 14th day of December 2020, STEPHEN CLIFFGARD LEE attempted to commit the felony offense of INFLUENCING WITNESSES … by traveling to the home of Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County, Georgia, election worker, and speaking to her neighbor, with intent to knowingly engage in misleading conduct toward Ruby Freeman, by purporting to offer her help, and with intent to influence her testimony … [Then returning the next day] knocking on her door, with intent to knowingly engage in misleading conduct toward Ruby Freeman …”
Then:
“STEPHEN CLIFFGARD LEE solicited HARRISON WILLIAM PRESCOTT FLOYD, an individual associated with the organization Black Voices for Trump, to assist with his effort to speak to Ruby Freeman … LEE stated to HARRISON WILLIAM PRESCOTT FLOYD that Freeman was afraid to talk to STEPHEN CLIFFGARD LEE because he was a white man …”
We have come such a long way: from white people harassing Black women to equal opportunity intimidation.
There has been a lot of news lately about Jeffrey Clark. Having spent four decades trying to prod the United Sates Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force General Electric to fully clean and restore our Housatonic River, I am particularly fond of the Jeffrey Clark piece of the conspiracy. Clark is the former assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). I have seen the DOJ attorneys at work when they turn their talents to opposing environmental activists. I had no idea part of Jeffrey Clark’s job was undermining our elections.
Joyce Vance, former prosecutor and current professor of law, explains Clark’s confusion:
“As you can see from a quick look at ENRD’s Division [LINK https://www.justice.gov/enrd] at DOJ has absolutely nothing to do with elections or voting fraud. Instead, Clark will likely argue that he is charged with conduct he carried out as part of his official duties stemming from … [when] Clark became the acting head of the Civil Division in September of 2020. Fulton County DA Fani Willis has subpoenaed his predecessor, Jody Hunt, to testify. Most likely, that’s because Willis intends to elicit testimony from Hunt to establish that the head of DOJ’s Civil Division does not, as part of his official duties, have authority to feed bogus information to states about voting fraud. Nor can he negotiate side deals with the president to take over the Justice Department in order to push a false voter fraud narrative.”
More DOJ:
“On or about the 27th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP solicited Acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting United States Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make a false statement by stating, ‘Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.’” (Emphasis added.)
Then, on December 28, 2020, Jeffrey Clark knowingly and falsely claimed in writing “that the United States Department of Justice had ‘identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.’”
Then there is Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff. Trump repeatedly relied on Meadows to make life easier by doing what needed to be done to propel the Trump agenda:
“Between December 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP and MARK RANDALL MEADOWS met with John McEntee and requested that McEntee prepare a memorandum outlining a strategy for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021 … The strategy included having Vice President Michael R. ‘Mike’ Pence count only half of the electoral votes from certain states and then return the remaining electoral votes to state legislatures …”
Much like Jeff Clark, Mark Meadows hoped to persuade the court that everything he did disputing the 2020 election results was really just a part of his usual required governmental duties, and that his case ought to be transferred from state to federal court. But as The New York Times pointed out, that all became more difficult when Mr. Meadows took the witness stand:
“At issue was whether his actions … could be considered within the scope of his duties as White House chief of staff. Mr. Meadows made the case for that under questioning by his lawyer, but he hit a snag when a prosecutor asked whether he had ‘any role’ in coordinating the bogus electors who were used in a last-ditch effort to keep Mr. Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. ‘No, I did not,’ he replied.
“The prosecutor then introduced into the record a December 2020 email that Mr. Meadows wrote to a Trump campaign staff member. In it, Mr. Meadows wrote, ‘We just need to have someone coordinating the electors for the states.’ The exchange, which prosecutors will almost certainly use against Mr. Meadows at trial, underscored the high-stakes gamble that he took by testifying.”
Sort of like when the police come to search the home of one of those Italian bank robbers who, while vigorously denying he doesn’t know anything about the heist, tries to kick a bag of the bank’s money under his kitchen table.
Here is some of what Mark Meadows is alleged to have done to help Donald J. Trump hold onto power: On December 22, 2020,
“MARK RANDALL MEADOWS traveled to the Cobb County Civic Center in Cobb County, Georgia, and attempted to observe the signature match audit being performed there by law enforcement officers from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State, despite the fact that the audit process was not open to the public. While present at the center, MARK RANDALL MEADOWS spoke to Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs, Office of the Georgia Secretary of State Chief Investigator Frances Watson, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Bahan Rich, and others, who prevented MARK RANDALL MEADOWS from entering into the space where the audit was being conducted. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
On December 23, 2020,
“DONALD JOHN TRUMP placed a telephone call to Office of the Georgia Secretary of State Chief Investigator Frances Watson that had been previously arranged by MARK RANDALL MEADOWS. During the phone call, DONALD JOHN TRUMP falsely stated that he had won the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia ‘by hundreds of thousands of votes’ and stated to Watson that ‘when the right answer comes out you’ll be praised.’”
As for your proverbial smoking gun, there is this clear link between Mark Meadows and the Trump campaign, with no connection at all to his governmental duties:
“On or about the 27th day of December 2020, MARK RANDALL MEADOWS sent a text message to Office of the Georgia Secretary of State Chief Investigator Frances Watson that stated in part, ‘Is there a way to speed up Fulton county signature verification in order to have results before Jan 6 if the trump campaign assist financially.’ This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.” (Emphasis added.)
And then, on January 2, 2021,
“DONALD JOHN TRUMP and MARK RANDALL MEADOWS committed the felony offense … by unlawfully soliciting, requesting, and importuning Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a public officer, to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, O.C.G.A. § 16-10-1, by unlawfully altering, unlawfully adjusting, and otherwise unlawfully influencing the certified returns for presidential electors for the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia …”
Here is an example of Meadows pressuring the staff of the Georgia secretary of state:
Transcript of Meadows-Trump Jan, 2, 2021 phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Highlighting added.
During this phone call, Trump pressured Secretary Brad Raffensperger to find the votes he needed to win—while repeatedly slandering Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman (CNN chose not to make matters worse and removed their names):
Donald Trump pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensburger on Jan. 2, 2021. Highlighting added.
Here’s how the indictment puts it:
“On or about the 2nd day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP committed the felony offense of FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS … by knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making at least one of the following false statements and representations to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs, and Georgia Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany:
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- “That anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls in the November 3,2020, presidential election in Georgia;
- “That thousands of people attempted to vote in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia and were told they could not because a ballot had already been cast in their name;
- “That 4,502 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were not on the voter registration list;
- “That 904 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were registered at an address that was a post office box;
- “That Ruby Freeman was a professional vote scammer and a known political operative;
- “That Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joseph R. Biden at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
- “That close to 5,000 dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
- “That 139 [percent] of people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Detroit;
- “That 200,000 more votes were recorded than the number of people who voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania;
- “That thousands of dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Michigan;
- “That Ruby Freeman stuffed the ballot boxes;
- “That hundreds of thousands of ballots had been ‘dumped’ into Fulton County and another county adjacent to Fulton County in the November 3,2020, presidential election in Georgia;
- “That he won the November 3,2020, presidential election in Georgia by 400,000 votes; said statements being within the jurisdiction of the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, departments and agencies of state government. This was an act of racketeering activity under O.C.G.A. § 16-14-3(5)(A)(xxii) and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
Adopting a strategy more appropriate for that Italian comedy, the various members of this conspiracy now decided the smartest thing they could do was to break into a polling place and get their hands on the actual voting machines, copy their results, and the computer software that ran the machines.
I never put together the timing of these events until I read the indictment closely:
“On or about the 18th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP met with RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI, SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL, unindicted co-conspirator Individual 20, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, and others at the White House. The individuals present at the meeting discussed certain strategies and theories intended to influence the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election, including seizing voting equipment and appointing SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL as special counsel with broad authority to investigate allegations of voter fraud in Georgia and elsewhere. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.” (Emphasis added.)
Then:
“SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL entered into a contract with SullivanStrickler LLC in Fulton County, Georgia, delivered a payment to SullivanStrickler LLC in Fulton County, Georgia, and caused employees of SullivanStrickler LLC to travel from Fulton County, Georgia, to Coffee County, Georgia, for the purpose of willfully tampering with said electronic ballot markers and tabulating machines, which were overt acts to effect the object of the conspiracy …”
Surveillance footage from Coffee County Election Office. GOP Chair Cathy Latham with technicians from Sullivan Strickler improperly copying data. Footage made available by The Washington Post.
And:
“On or about the 7th day of January 2021, SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL, CATHLEEN ALSTON LATHAM, SCOTT GRAHAM HALL, and MISTY HAMPTON committed the felony offense of COMPUTER THEFT … by using a computer with knowledge that such use was without authority and with the intention of taking and appropriating information, data, and software, the property’ of Dominion Voting Systems Corporation in Coffee County, Georgia … [and] members of the enterprise stole data, including ballot images, voting equipment software, and personal voter information. The stolen data was then distributed to other members of the enterprise, including members in other states.”
Photo showing USB thumb drives copied from the Coffee County elections office produced in a lawsuit against Sullivan Strickler. Photo obtained by The Washington Post.
How ironic is it that the only USB thumb drives actually involved in election interference came not from Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss but from the company hired by those involved in the Trump conspiracy? Then, if thievery wasn’t enough, they lied about what they had done.
But, of course, as every Mafia movie or TV show makes clear, everything flows from the top down. And in the space of a few days in December:
“On or about the 27th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP solicited Acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting United States Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make a false statement by stating, ‘Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.’
“On or about the 30th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump …”
A tweet from Donald Trump on Dec. 30, 2020. Highlighting added.
Then:
“On or about the 4th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP and JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN met with Vice President Mike Pence, Chief of Staff to the Vice President Marc Short, and Counsel to the Vice President Greg Jacob in the Oval Office at the White House. During the meeting, DONALD JOHN TRUMP and JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN argued to Pence that he could either reject electoral votes from certain states or delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, the day prescribed by law for counting votes cast by the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from Georgia and the other states, for the purpose of allowing certain state legislatures to unlawfully appoint presidential electors in favor of DONALD JOHN TRUMP. During the meeting, JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN admitted both options violated the Electoral Count Act.
“On or about the 5th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump …” (Emphasis added.)
A tweet from Donald Trump on Jan. 5, 2021. Highlighting added.
“On or about the 5th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP met with Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office at the White House. During the meeting, DONALD JOHN TRUMP stated that Pence had the power to decertify the November 3, 2020, presidential election results, that people cheated … When Pence stated that it was his duty to support and defend the Constitution and that only Congress had the power to decide to reject slates of presidential electors, DONALD JOHN TRUMP stated that Pence was naive, implied that he lacked courage, and stated that Pence was doing ‘a great disservice.’
“On or about the 5th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP issued a statement through the Trump Campaign that falsely stated, ‘The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act. Our Vice President has several options under the U.S. Constitution. He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation.’
“On or about the 6th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP appeared and spoke at a rally at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. During the rally, DONALD JOHN TRUMP made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia and elsewhere, solicited Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021 … and encouraged those in attendance at the rally to march to the United States Capitol. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
“On or about the 6th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump …”
A tweet from Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. Highlighting added.
“This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
“On or about the 6th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP placed a telephone call to Vice President Mike Pence and solicited him to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, the day prescribed by law for counting votes cast by the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from Georgia and the other states. When Pence refused, DONALD JOHN TRUMP stated that Pence would ‘go down as a wimp’ and that Pence was not protecting the United States. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.” (Emphasis added.)
As for Mark Meadows, he lost his appeal to remove his case to federal court. He is appealing that decision and Fani Willis’ reply brief was due on September 25 and should be decided the following week. Meanwhile, October approaches, and it seems likely that he and his fellow accused will be facing a jury of their peers.
Donald Trump tweets his mug shot, after being arraigned on Aug. 23, 2023.
As for his Boss, this is one photo op I am betting he regrets. I am guessing that despite what he, his lawyers, and his spokespeople might say, much like me, Donald J. Trump might be humming “Georgia On My Mind.”
