Trump Indicted in Georgia, His Fourth Set of Criminal Charges This Year

A grand jury in Fulton County, Ga., indicted Donald Trump on Monday for trying to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election victory in their state, the fourth set of criminal charges brought this year against the former president and current front-runner for the Republican party's 2024 White House nomination.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis secured the historic criminal charges against Trump, as well as 18 of his associates including personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, following an extensive investigation that began in January 2021.

In all, Trump is charged with 13 state felony counts, most notably a violation of the Georgia RICO Act that allows prosecutors to pursue charges against multiple actors in a criminal enterprise.  

Trump is also charged with one count of filing false documents, two counts of making false statements, three counts of “solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer” and six conspiracy charges. 

If convicted, the charges against Trump carry maximum sentences ranging from three years to 20 years in prison.

Trump is expected to enter a not guilty plea when he appears for his arraignment, which a source familiar with the former president's legal strategy said earlier in the day before the indictment went public could happen as early as Thursday in Atlanta. Willis told reporters during a late Monday press conference that all the co-defendants would have until noon on Aug. 25 to surrender for arrest.

The latest state case doesn’t just ensnare Trump. It also takes aim at a wide range of his associates. The 18 people besides Trump who are charged with RICO in the 98-page indictment include Trump personal lawyers John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, as well as Jeffrey B. Clark, a former top Justice Department official

Late Monday, Willis said she intended to try all 19 co-defendants together at the same time and that she'd push for the trial to begin within six months. But the Fulton County DA also acknowledged the schedule will be up to the presiding judge — the new court docket entry for the case lists Scott McAfee, a Fulton County Superior Court appointee of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp — and that there are pending criminal matters in other jurisdictions against Trump.

Willis' indictment begins with an introduction page that briefly describes the alleged crimes, which transpired after Trump lost the 2020 presidential 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,” it states. “That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.”

The indictment describes actions both within Georgia and outside the state as part of the alleged enterprise aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

Those actions included making false statements to state legislators in multiple states including Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania in late 2020 “to persuade legislators in those states to unlawfully appoint their own presidential elections.” The defendants are also accused of pressuring “high-ranking state officials” and creating and distributing false Electoral College documents in multiple states as part of an effort to change the results of the election.

Other acts described as part of the RICO charges include the harassment of Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman who was falsely accused of election crimes, pressuring of high-ranking U.S. Department of Justice officials and Vice President MIke Pence, and the unlawful breach of election equipment in Georgia, where members of the conspiracy allegedly “stole data, including ballot images, voting equipment software and personal voter information.”

In Georgia, RICO charges require that a group of associated people participate in a criminal enterprise including two or more criminal acts. The indictment details 161 alleged acts committed by the defendants.

Among the defendants are three people who allegedly took part in a scheme to convince Freeman, the Fulton County election worker, to falsely admit to committing fraud. They include Trevian Kutti, a publicist associated with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

Three more defendants were charged in connection with their alleged roles as “false electors” who agreed to help create a document falsely stating that Georgia’s Electoral College votes had been won by Trump. 

The indictment also charges two Georgia-based attorneys–Ray S. Smith III and Robert D. Cheeley–and Trump election staffer Michael A. Roman with multiple counts including RICO.

Willis, a Democrat, launched her probe after it became public that Trump had called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to "find 11,780 votes," the same number that would have flipped the state into his favor over Biden and given the Republican its prized 16 Electoral College votes.

To make her case, Willis brought in a variety of witnesses, including Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and the so-called "fake electors" who tried to submit false claims of a Trump victory in Georgia even though Biden had won the state.

Giuliani conceded in a July filing responding to a lawsuit that he had made “false” statements about Georgia poll workers in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump has denied there was wrongdoing in Georgia and repeatedly attacked Willis, calling her "racist" and defending his call with Raffensperger as "perfect."

Trump’s Georgia case means the former 45th president of the United States is now facing 91 criminal counts in four different jurisdictions across the Eastern Seaboard: two in federal court and two in state courts. 

The federal cases center around charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has requested a January 2024 trial start date seeking to put Trump in prison for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. 

Trump is also scheduled to go on trial in May 2024 in Fort Pierce, Fla., for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and his attempts with two co-defendants to obstruct the ensuing federal investigation. 

In New York, Trump is scheduled to go on trial in March surrounding alleged “hush money” payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 White House campaign. 

The Georgia case stands out among the four because it has the most serious state-based charges that can’t be dismissed through a presidential pardon. During her remarks to the press Monday night, Willis declined to answer a question about whether she'd spoken with or coordinated with Smith about her case and her plans to push for a speedy trial.

If Trump wins the 2024 presidential election he’s expected to attempt a self-pardon that would negate any federal criminal record, though that is a move that’s also never before been tried and it’s unclear how the Supreme Court would address the question. 

In a statement Monday night, Trump’s 2024 campaign called Willis a “rabid partisan” and accused the prosecutor of strategically stalling her investigation “to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign.”