Trump Indicted for Fourth Time in Georgia Election Interference Case
02:58 GMT 15.08.2023 (Updated: 06:42 GMT 15.08.2023)
© AP Photo / Alex Brandon
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The former US president has already been hit with a total of three indictments, two of which are federal cases. To date, the Trump camp has repeatedly rejected all charges, underscoring that legal proceedings are intended to block the ex-commander-in-chief's 2024 reelection campaign.
Former US President Donald Trump was indicted for a fourth time late Monday, this time for his and his allies' alleged actions to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state of Georgia.
The grand jury indictment in Georgia stretched far into the night on Monday, with the indictment only becoming public just before 11 p.m.
The 98-page indictment list charges a total of 19 individuals including Trump, and fellow associates Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, among other figures. Over 40 charges are listed in the filing, which also notes there are 30 co-conspirators who have yet to be officially indicted.
Trump was specifically hit with 13 charges, including: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer and conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, among others.
Among the charges listed in the filing against Trump, violations of the Georgia RICO (racketeering) Act is considered the most serious.
RICO cases are typically used to clamp down on drug cartels or larger criminal organizations. It's specifically used in cases where an alleged offender engaged in a minimum of two predicated crimes that were in connection to an enterprise that is either considered legal or illegal.
14 August 2023, 02:03 GMT
Shortly after the indictment was released, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis told reporters that the defendants must surrender voluntarily no later than 12 p.m. local time on August 25.
"[Trump and his allies] constituted a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in various related criminal activities,” Willis said at a news conference just before midnight Monday. "They knowingly and willfully joined conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump."
Willis did state that she will seek to try the case within six months' time, and that she wanted to try all defendants together, a task that insiders have already noted may pose several difficulties.
Ahead of the indictment's release, the Trump campaign issued a statement condemning the latest filings, noting Willis "strategically stalled her investigation to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign."
"Combined with the intentionally slow-walked investigation by the Biden-Smith goon squads and the false charges in New York, the timing of this latest coordinated strike by a biased prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democrat jurisdiction not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also exposes true motivation driving fabricated accusations," the release continued.
Prosecutors have been investigating the alleged election interference scheme for two and half years. The investigation, led by Willis, focused on five actions allegedly taken by Trump and his allies, including phone calls that Trump made to state officials in which he told one to "find" the votes he needed to win the state.
Prosecutors also investigated a scheme to upend the vote by sending fake electors to certify the vote and a data breach at an election office in Coffee County.
Earlier Monday, US media reported that a document outlining charges against Trump from the Fulton County District Attorney's Office was momentarily made public before being taken down.
At the time, the Fulton County Clerk's office acknowledged the mishap and stated the document was fictitious. The release said that no documents had been filed in the case, and reiterated that files that do not have an official case number, filing date, and the name of the clerk of courts are not considered official fillings and should not be treated as such.
The case in Georgia is separate from the federal case against Trump for his alleged attempts to overturn the election in six crucial states, including Georgia.
Willis said that while there is some crossover between the two cases she did not coordinate efforts with the federal prosecutors.
Trump has also been indicted on federal charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents and in a New York state case over money he paid to an adult film actress to keep her from speaking about an affair she alleged to have with Trump years before the start of the 2016 US election cycle. In that case, investigators claim the payments were illegally classified as legal expenses.
The cases in Georgia and New York are particularly significant because the US president does not have authority over state courts. While legal experts have debated if a president could pardon themselves in a federal case, there is no doubt they cannot in cases handled by state courts.
If Trump returns to the White House in 2024, he will not be able to pardon himself in those cases.
