Georgia Trump InvestigationTrump Indicted in 2020 Election Interference Case in Georgia
“Former President Donald J. Trump and 18 others, including Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mark Meadows, face conspiracy charges related to what prosecutors called a “criminal enterprise” to subvert the will of voters.
Pinned
Former President Donald J. Trump and 18 others, including some of his former lawyers and top aides, have been indicted by an Atlanta grand jury in a sweeping racketeering case focused on Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
The indictment — handed up after a single, extra-long day of testimony — is an unprecedented challenge of presidential misconduct by a local prosecutor. It brings charges against some of his most prominent advisers, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, his former personal lawyer, and Mark Meadows, who served as White House chief of staff at the time of the election.
“Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Mr. Trump, running again for president and the early favorite to win the Republican nomination, has now been indicted in four separate criminal investigations since April, including a federal indictment earlier this month over his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 race.
Although that case covers some of the same ground as the one in Georgia, there are crucial differences between state and federal charges: Even if Mr. Trump were to regain the presidency, the prosecutors in Georgia would not report to him, nor would he have the power to attempt to pardon himself if convicted.
Here’s what to know:
Richard Fausset
Reporting from AtlantaProsecutors describe the “criminal enterprise” as one that operated not only in Fulton County, Ga., but in other states, including Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and in the District of Columbia. This underscores the power of a racketeering charge: Ms. Willis did not have to show that all of the acts took place in her jurisdiction. Rather, if you were part of a plan to overthrow the Georgia election, and you never even set foot in Georgia, you could be charged.
It’s worth recalling that Giuliani was tapped by Trump to take over the legal fight after other Trump advisers told him they had essentially come to the end of the line. But Trump also told aides he didn’t want Giuliani paid unless Giuliani delivered. Trump also did not tell aides to cover Giuliani’s legal fees.
At the heart of the indictment against Mr. Trump and his allies in Georgia are racketeering charges under the state Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
Like the federal law on which it is based, the state RICO law was originally designed to dismantle organized crime groups, but over the years it has come to be used to prosecute other crimes, from white collar Ponzi and embezzlement schemes to public corruption cases.
Richard Fausset
Reporting from AtlantaProsecutors begin to lay out their narrative of the racketeering charge 14 pages into the indictment, laying out their case in the plainest of language: “Trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”
Trump is already sending fundraising emails about the indictment.“
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