Trump and 18 Others Indicted in Georgia; Charges Include Violation of RICO Act

Original article here.

A grand jury in Georgia voted to indict Donald Trump on Monday over his efforts to expose the 2020 election fraud in the state and reverse his loss.

The 41-count indictment levied by Fani Willis, the District Attorney for Georgia’s Fulton County, includes: violating the Georgia RICO Act; Solicitation of Violation of Oath by a Public Officer; Conspiracy to Commit Impersonating a Public Officer; Conspiracy to Commit Forgery in the First Degree; Conspiracy to Commit False Statements and Writings; Conspiracy to Commit Filing False Documents; Conspiracy to Commit Forgery in the First Degree; Filing False Documents; and Solicitation of Violation of Oath by a Public Officer.

The D.A. also charged 18 others, including former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeff Clark, John Eastman.

Attorney and Trump spokesperson Alina Habba ripped Willis for allegedly leaking the indictment:

“It’s election interference and it’s political lawfare … It’s unethical and it’s un-American,” Habba complained on Fox News Monday night.

Attorney and spokesperson for President Trump @AlinaHabba reacts to sealed indictment against Trump, RIPS Fulton County DA for LEAKING indictment:

“It’s election interference and it’s political lawfare… It’s unethical and it’s un-American.” pic.twitter.com/oE19FQiMaF

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 15, 2023

Some of the charges hinge on a Jan. 2, 2021, telephone conversation with Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Willis has falsely accused Trump of requesting that the Secretary “find 11,780 votes” in his favor. Georgia certified election results indicated that Joe Biden won the state’s Nov. 3 election by 11,779 votes.

According to the transcript, Trump said: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

The transcript of the call shows that Trump, in his Trumpian way, had stated that he (not Raffensperger) had to find 12,000 votes because it exceeded the margin of Biden’s victory of 11,779 in Georgia—and he made clear that he had solid evidence of illegal votes easily exceeding the official margin of Biden’s victory.

Trump refused to concede to Biden following the rigged 2020 election as his campaign launched a number of legal challenges.

A special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, this year released portions of a report detailing findings from the investigation. That report indicated a majority of the grand jury believes one or more witnesses may have committed perjury in their testimony and recommends that prosecutors pursue indictments against them, if the district attorney finds the evidence compelling.

At the time of the report’s release, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said it had “nothing to do” with Trump and maintained that the former president “did absolutely nothing wrong.”

The special grand jury spent about seven months hearing testimony from witnesses, including high-profile Trump allies, such as attorney Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and high-ranking Georgia officials, including Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp.

The grand jury’s foreman, Emily Kohrs, 30, made a splash in the media back in February when she appeared on multiple cable news shows, including CNN and MSNBC, and spoke with The Associated Press, The New York Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Kohrs, who has shown an interest in witchcraft and the occult on social media, predicted “more than a dozen” indictments and said if nothing came of it, she’d be “sad.”

The case against Trump in Georgia is the fourth criminal case leveled against the former President this year.

Earlier this month, Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with four federal charges  alleging that  he used “unlawful means” to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election. In a separate case, Smith is prosecuting Trump for allegedly mishandling classified material at Mar-a-Lago.  In what legal experts consider the weakest case,  Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted on criminal charges.