Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, on charges related to interference in the 2020 election
- Trump had planned a news conference Monday at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club
- He had promised earlier this week to release ‘irrefutable’ evidence of the Georgia ‘election fraud’ that should see all charges ‘dropped’ against him
- Former President Donald Trump canceled a ‘major news conference’ scheduled for Monday at the behest of his lawyers during which he planned to present a report ‘exonerating’ him following his fourth indictment in Georgia for alleged election fraud.
He had promised earlier this week to release ‘irrefutable’ evidence of the Georgia ‘election fraud’ that should see all charges ‘dropped’ against him and his 18 co-accused after his fourth indictment.
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‘Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would prefer putting this, I believe, Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence of Election Fraud & Irregularities in formal Legal Filings as we fight to dismiss this disgraceful Indictment,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday to announce the cancellation of the event.
Trump was indicted for the fourth time Monday in Georgia for his alleged role in trying to overturn the 2020 election by running a ‘criminal organization.’
The president announced on his Truth Social platform the next morning that he would hold a news conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey.
Fani Willis is seen on Monday night announcing the charges against the 19 accused of working to overturn Georgia’s election results
Donald Trump on Monday was indicted on state charges, filed by a district attorney in Georgia, relating to interference in the 2020 election
‘A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference at 11:00 A.M. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey,’ said Trump Tuesday morning.
‘Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others – There will be a complete EXONERATION! They never went after those that Rigged the Election. They only went after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!’
Trump’s campaign wasted no time in using the indictment to fundraise. ‘I will NEVER surrender our country to these tyrants,’ said an email that went out to the former president’s supporters hours after the indictment.
‘Patriot, Justice and the rule of law are officially DEAD in America,’ the campaign continued in the email to supporters.
Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, secured the 41-count indictment from a grand jury on Monday, and told a press conference the indictment alleged ‘violations of Georgia law arising from a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the election in this state.’
The fundraising email sent early Tuesday morning goes on to slam Willis.
‘A left-wing prosecutor – with such extreme anti-Trump bias that EVEN CNN questioned her legitimacy – has INDICTED me despite having committed NO CRIME.
‘This marks the FOURTH ACT of Election Interference on behalf of the Democrats in an attempt to keep the White House under Crooked Joe’s control and JAIL his single greatest opponent of the 2024 election.
‘Let me remind you that just days before I announced my 2024 presidential campaign, Crooked Joe declared on national TV that serious efforts would be taken to stop me from being able to ‘take power’ again.’
The case – relying on laws typically used to bring down mobsters – is the fourth targeting the 77-year-old Republican this year and could lead to a watershed moment, the first televised trial of a former president in U.S. history.
- Donald Trump and 18 others were indicted by prosecutors in Georgia
- Fani Willis, the district attorney, said she intends to try all 19 together
- They are indicted on 41 charges: Trump could face 71 years in prison if convicted
- The former president is accused of being the head of a criminal organization
- Trump and his co-conspirators are accused of working to overturn the election
- Willis said that they all have until noon on Friday August 25 to surrender
- She said the timeline for the trial was up to the judge
- It is Trump’s fourth indictment: he claims it is an attempt to derail his campaign
He was charged along with 18 others – Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Ken Cheseboro, Jeffrey Clark, Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Shawn Still, Stephen Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Sidney Powell, Cathleen Latham, Scott Hall and Misty Hampton.
Willis said she wants to try them all at the same time. They have until noon on August 25 to turn themselves in, or else an arrest warrant will be issued.
There are also 30 ‘un-indicted co-conspirators’ – people accused of being part of the plot but not named or charged.
Trump was charged with RICO – Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations – a count which is frequently used to try mafia figures, cartel leaders and gangland bosses.
He is also charged with solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; conspiracy to commit forgery in the first-degree; perjury; and a host of other counts.
If convicted on all charges, he faces 71 years in prison – and state charges, unlike federal, cannot be pardoned by a president.
John Eastman (left) and Rudy Giuliani (right) were among the co-defendants charged along with Trump.
Sidney Powell and Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, were among those charged
Trump called Willis a ‘rabid partisan’, but on Monday night she told a press conference: ‘I make decisions in this office based on the facts and the law. The law is non-partisan.
‘We look at the facts, we look at the law, and we bring charges.’
Willis declined to say whether she has spoken with Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who has indicted Trump on federal charges of attempting to overturn the election.
She said the time frame for the Georgia trial was up to the judge.
‘This office will be submitting a proposed scheduling order: however, it will be at the discretion of the judge,’ she said.
Asked if she wanted her case to be tried before or after Smith’s, she replied: ‘I don’t have any desire to be first or last.’
Trump’s attorneys – Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg – described the indictment as ‘shocking and absurd.’
They pointed out that the indictment was briefly published online hours before it was officially filed, and said it forced Willis to rush through the charges.
‘In light of this major fumble, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office clearly decided to force through and rush this 98-page indictment,’ they said.
‘This one-sided grand jury presentation relied on witnesses who harbor their own personal and political interests— some of whom ran campaigns touting their efforts against the accused and/or profited from book deals and employment opportunities as a result.
‘We look forward to a detailed review of this indictment which is undoubtedly just as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire process has been.’
Trump also referenced the leaked indictment, saying it suggested the case was ‘rigged’.
‘So, the Witch Hunt continues!’ he wrote on Truth Social.
’19 people Indicated [sic] tonight, including the former President of the United States, me, by an out of control and very corrupt District Attorney who campaigned and raised money on, ‘I will get Trump.’
‘And what about those Indictment Documents put out today, long before the Grand Jury even voted, and then quickly withdrawn? Sounds Rigged to me!
‘Why didn’t they Indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign. Witch Hunt!’
Giuliani, in a statement issued by his advisor, called the indictment ‘an affront to American Democracy’ that ‘does permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system.’
The former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer called it ‘just the next chapter in a book of lies with the purpose of framing President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime.’
‘The real criminals here are the people who have brought this case forward both directly and indirectly,’ he said.
Giuliani, while working as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was famed for his use of the RICO laws to prosecute mob bosses – the very charges that are now filed against him.
All 19 defendants were charged with ‘violation of the RICO’ act – usually used to charge a group of people and a ring leader.
Willis has said she likes the RICO statute because it allows prosecutors to paint a more complete picture of the alleged illegal activity.
A former senior member of Trump’s Department of Justice, Clark sought to use the power of federal law enforcement to help overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat
‘Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3,2020,’ the 98-page indictment begins.
‘One of the states he lost was Georgia.
‘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.
‘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 spells out, in a series of ‘acts’, the actions of the accused.
The group is accused of lying to state officials; leaning on Justice Department figures to try and get their support; creating false election documents; and harassing election workers.
They are accused of trying to enlist Vice President Mike Pence in their scheme.
‘Members of the enterprise, including several of the Defendants, corruptly solicited the Vice President of the United States to violate the United States Constitution and federal law by unlawfully rejecting Electoral College votes cast in Fulton County, Georgia, by the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from Georgia,’ the indictment states.
Willis’ document details phone records showing that the 19 were in frequent contact in the run-up to January 6 – the day of the Capitol riot.
Trump rang Pence on January 5, according to the indictment, and told him: ‘You gotta be tough tomorrow.’
The prosecutors add: ‘This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.’
The indictment charges Trump with making false statements and writings for a series of claims he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other state election officials on January 2, 2021, including that up to 300,000 ballots ‘were dropped mysteriously into the rolls’ in the 2020 election, that more than 4,500 people voted who weren’t on registration lists and that a Fulton County election worker, Ruby Freeman, was a ‘professional vote scammer.’
The indictment also mentions the now infamous December 18, 2020, session in the Oval Office, where Trump allies including Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, proposed ordering the military to seize voting machines and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of voter fraud in Georgia and other crucial states Trump had lost.
Prosecutors say the meeting at the White House, which included Giuliani, was part of an effort to ‘influence the outcome’ of the election.
Days later, prosecutors say, Meadows traveled to Cobb County and attempted to observe a signature match audit being performed ‘despite the fact that the process was not open to the public.’
Several state officials prevented the then-chief of staff from entering the prohibited area.
Trump’s campaign wasted no time in using the indictment to fundraise.
‘Patriot, Justice and the rule of law are officially DEAD in America,’ the campaign wrote in an email to supporters.
‘A left-wing prosecutor – with such extreme anti-Trump bias that EVEN CNN questioned her legitimacy – has INDICTED me despite having committed NO CRIME.
‘This marks the FOURTH ACT of Election Interference on behalf of the Democrats in an attempt to keep the White House under Crooked Joe’s control and JAIL his single greatest opponent of the 2024 election.
‘Let me remind you that just days before I announced my 2024 presidential campaign, Crooked Joe declared on national TV that serious efforts would be taken to stop me from being able to ‘take power’ again.’