Trump and 18 others face indictment in Georgia’s 2020 election case.
ATLANTA—Former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, on Monday evening in relation to the former president’s efforts to dispute the 2020 election results in the state.
The 98-page indictment (pdf) charges President Trump with 13 counts, including violation of the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, and conspiracy to commit filing of false documents.
Alongside the former president 18 others were indicted, including his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, his former attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, and attorney Sidney Powell.
Each of the 19 defendants faced a number of charges but were all charged on the RICO Act. A total of 41 charges were filed in the case.
“The indictment alleges that, rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at a brief press conference late Monday.
She alleged that the goal of the 19 defendants was to allow President Trump “seize the presidential term of office” beginning on Jan. 20, 2021.
The district attorney said she intends to try all 19 defendants together. While the grand jury issued arrest warrants for the defendants, Ms. Willis said she is allowing defendants voluntarily surrender by no later than noon on Friday, Aug. 25.
Indictment
The indictment alleges that the defendants “joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.” According to the indictment, the alleged conspiracy to challenge the 2020 election results extended beyond Georgia into other states, including Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Georgia’s prosecutors argue that the post-election challenges amounted to “a criminal organization” that committed crimes including false statements, impersonating a public officer, forgery, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, perjury, and influencing witnesses.
The indictment alleges that the false statement occurred during three hearings before members of the Georgia General Assembly to “persuade Georgia legislators to reject lawful electoral votes.”
The indictment also alleges that the defendants recruited individuals to “cast false Electoral votes at the Georgia State Capitol.” According to the indictment, President Trump had sought the Department of Justice (DOJ) to say that the “election was corrupt.”
The indictment also alleges that efforts to have Vice President Mike Pence reject Electoral College votes were part of a criminal conspiracy.
Just as with an indictment filed earlier this month by Special Counsel Jack Smith, President Trump’s post-election challenges were described not as legitimate challenges, but rather a criminal conspiracy.
When President Trump called on the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives to call a special session, the indictment alleges he engaged in the “solicitation of violation of oath by public officer.” And when Mr. Meadows traveled to Georgia “to observe the signature match audit being performed” it was an “overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” according to the indictment, because the “audit process was not open to the public.”
Other statements by President Trump to Georgia officials, such as that 250,000 to 300,000 ballots “were dropped mysteriously into the rolls” in the election, that 904 people who voted were registered at one post office box address, and that 5,000 “dead people voted,” amounted to “racketeering activity … and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” according to Georgia prosecutors.
In total, the indictment lists 161 such acts that were allegedly taken to advance the conspiracy.
The indictment also includes multiple unindicted co-conspirators suggesting more charges may follow.
Besides President Trump, Mr. Meadows, Mr. Guiliani, Ms. Ellis, and Ms. Powell, the indictment charged: attorneys John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Ray Smith III, and Robert Cheeley; former DOJ attorney Jeffrey Clark, GOP strategist Michael Roman, Georgia’s alternate electors Shawn Still, Cathleen Latham, and David Shafer, former head of the Georgia Republican Party; Stephen Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Scott Hall, and Misty Hayes.
Document with Charges Earlier Posted
The 13 counts against President Trump correspond precisely with the charges listed in a document that Reuters news service reported earlier in the day. The outlet reported that a document listing those charges was briefly posted on the Georgia court’s website on Aug. 14.
However, later in the day, Reuters also reported: “The [clerk of courts’] office described what it called ‘a fictitious document that has been circulated online’ without specifying whether it was the one listing criminal charges against Trump. A spokesperson for the clerk did not respond to a request for further detail.”
Likewise, The Epoch Times sought clarification from the court spokesman but received no response.
President Trump’s campaign, in a statement issued earlier in the night, decried the case as another attempt to interfere with the former president’s third run for the Oval Office.
“Like Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Deranged Jack Smith, and New York AG Letitia James, Fulton County, GA’s radical Democrat District Attorney Fani Willis is a rabid partisan who is campaigning and fundraising on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictments,” the statement read, referring to the three other indictments targeting the former president brought by Special Counsel Smith and Manhattan District Attorney Bragg.
Ms. Willis launched a new fundraising website for her political endeavors late last week, just before the grand jury’s decision was expected.
The Trump campaign questioned the timing of the indictment stemming from incidents that occurred nearly three years ago.
“Ripping a page from Crooked Joe Biden’s playbook, Willis has strategically stalled her investigation to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign. All of these corrupt Democrat attempts will fail,” the Trump campaign said.
Three of the four indictments occurred in overwhelmingly Democrat cities: Washington, New York, and, now, Atlanta. One case is proceeding in Palm Beach County, Florida, but a Washington grand jury was involved in that investigation.
“They are taking away President Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech, and the right to challenge a rigged and stolen election that the Democrats do all the time,” the campaign added.
Alina Habba, an attorney who serves as a legal spokeswoman for President Trump, told Newsmax that she expects multiple defendants to be indicted in this case. However, she says that knowledge is based on “leaks coming out of Georgia.” But, she said she had no specific information. “I”m on standby … it doesn’t matter if you represent the president, or if you’re a journalist, you won’t get anything until they’re ready to leak it.”
She also said she had spoken with President Trump recently and wants people to know: “He is resilient. He is strong. And he really loves this country. So I’m sorry that you are trying to break him down … But he is not the right guy to try and do that to. He is really unbreakable. When it comes to his love for this country, he’s not going to stop fighting.”
In the weeks and months leading to his indictments, the former president has railed against the investigations and resulting charges. He has denounced the accusations as an unethical and possibly illegal “election interference” attempt to bolster his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, in his bid to retain the presidency.
President Trump contends that President Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), and other Democrat foes including Ms. Willis have timed the charges to wound his candidacy in the thick of his campaign—accusations they deny. But despite this, the former president has enjoyed a boost in popularity. He attributes this to a backlash against prosecutions that he has maintained are politically motivated.
The former president and his supporters say Democrats have been allowed to get away with similar or worse conduct under what many on the right have called a “two-tiered system of justice.”
2020 Election
The Georgia charges come more than 2 1/2 years after Ms. Willis launched an investigation of accusations that President Trump and his allies may have criminally interfered with the state’s election results.
President Trump has continually disputed the election results in Georgia and other states ever since the election. Concerns about election integrity have dogged the Peach State in the past, particularly in Fulton County.
In December 2020, a month after the election, he had asked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to convene a special legislative session to overturn the election results; Gov. Kemp rebuffed that request and also said he lacked the authority to order an audit of absentee ballots, as the president had requested.
Interest in investigating President Trump’s dispute over the Georgia election results peaked after reports revealed the contents of a phone call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021. During the call, President Trump said: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more that we have because we won the state.”
Much debate has swirled around the intent and meaning of President Trump’s statements during that call.
Mainstream media outlets often characterize the conversation as one in which the president “demanded” or “pressured” officials to concoct a revised vote tally to benefit him.
Mr. Raffensperger told CBS News that he felt that the president and his team were attempting to intimidate him into taking certain actions.
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