cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/2916091
Former US President Donald Trump has been charged with attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia.
He and 18 others have been indicted on counts that include racketeering in a 41-charge document issued by a Fulton County grand jury.
The indictment marks the fourth time Mr Trump has been criminally charged this year.
He has denied the accusations in all cases.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched an investigation in February 2021 into allegations of election meddling against Mr Trump and his associates.
The list of defendants indicted late on Monday night includes former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House lawyer John Eastman and a former justice department official, Jeffrey Clark.
The indictment says the alleged co-conspirators “knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump”.
The charge sheet also refers to the defendants as a “criminal organization”, accusing them of a number of crimes, including:
False statements and writings Impersonating a public officer Forgery Filing false documents Influencing witnesses Computer trespass Conspiracy to defraud the state Theft and perjury.The most serious charge, violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico) Act, is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The act - designed to help take down organised criminal syndicates like the mafia - helps prosecutors connect the dots between underlings who broke laws and those who gave them marching orders.
Those Grand Jurors put their own lives and those of their loved ones in the crosshairs of maga (their names are public in the indictment).
Huge respect to them, they put their asses on the line for this, and it must have been a little frightening thinking about the harassment coming their way.
👏🏻
Holy shit, that’s how it works? I would have assumed that information would be sealed for a number of years.
I wonder if any of them have already received threats.
Yeah it’s wild.
Well said
This is an obvious exaggeration, but I can’t help but feel like we’re witnessing a death match between American democracy and the Republican Party.
Nah, just the justice system processing another wanna be gangster that went on a crime spree. everything happening right now, across the board, is a direct consequence of his decisions and actions. Republicans choose to foolishly hitch themselves to him, personally.
The justice system isn’t well known for doing anything to the rich
Part of that is because they have legal teams expertly guiding them in skirting the law and not leaving evidence of crimes, trump’s top minds hold press conferences at landscaping companies because they have the same name as prestigious hotel chains.
I’m a simple human. Someone reminds me of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, I laugh and I upvote. ⬆️
We indeed live in interesting times, I too am curious to see how it all resolves.
Slight correction: It is well known for doing nothing to the rich. A distinction as subtle as it is important…and telling.
I don’t intend to be a negative Nancy about it all but I expect everything will fall through some crack or slip through some loophole or…just get looked away from, in the end. It’s a pattern I’ve seen again and again with this man.
Perhaps Drumpf’s usefulness has been deemed to be ended, by those vastly more wealthy and powerful than he.
If that was the case, they’d just instruct McConnell and McCarthy to dump him.
It’s not a death match but it’s going to be a significant threshold where democracy gets further eroded or protected. Hopefully, it could be the end of Trump as a politician but who knows?
Keep in mind the Republicans are evolving beyond Trump, and this New Right is a real threat.
Case in point, that story earlier this week about Republican thinks tanks funding anti-education, anti-trans, anti-race mixing efforts, which stokes their culture war in ways that have and will continue to provoke real people to act in violent and harmful ways.
Happy 4th Indictment Day for anyone else who celebrates!
I don’t think he knows about 5th indictment, Pip
Do you just post this on every thread?
For those of us who aren’t American and want to at least have a semblance of a hope of keeping up with it there’s a wikipedia page for the indictments.
For those of us who aren’t American and want to at least somehow keep track of what’s going on in US politics I’d suggest what the fuck just happened today
This sets the dangerous precedent that sedition is some kind of crime.
Now any person that orchestrates a criminal conspiracy to undermine democracy and install themselves as President could get charged. Is that really the America we want?
Wait, I don’t get it, isn’t it confirmed that Trump tried to overturn the Georgia election by calling up the Georgia Secretary of State on the phone and asking him to find votes?
Can you plead not guilty to stabbing a guy if a bunch of people watch you stab that guy?
How does the presumption of innocence legally survive when it’s recorded and confirmed that you are guilty?
You can plead ‘not guilty’ even if you were arrested holding the bloody knife, its just not going to do you much good.
As for the presumption of innocence, as DA Willis put it in her statement this evening, an indictment is just a series of allegations, its up to the prosecutor and team to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Going back to the knife analogy, you’re going into the case where you’re legally presumed innocent, but the bloody knife/witnesses will show that you stabbed that guy.
Everyone pleads “not guilty” the first go around, even clearly guilty people, even people who plan to plead guilty.
You can always change a “not guilty” plea to “guilty” (ie, plea deal, etc). It gives your lawyers more time to get a handle on the case, get paperwork together, work with the prosecutors, etc.
Ah, thank you, this is the answer I was looking for. Appreciate it.
Very concise and specific.
So they only way to forfeit the person of innocence is by confessing to the alleged crime?
Is it true that if he’s found guilty of these charges he can’t be pardoned?
I think its that the governor can’t pardon him, Georgia has a pardon board that would be able to pardon him if they so chose.
Yeah, but the really cool thing (in this particular case, not in general) about Georgia’s pardon regulations are:
-
You must have completed all sentence(s) at least five (5) years prior to applying.
-
You must have lived a law-abiding life during the five (5) years prior to applying.
-
You cannot have any pending charges.
-
All fines must be paid in full.
I can see Trump having problems with every single one of requirements, plus he can’t even apply until five years after he’s served his sentence.
In other words: this is a pathway for a reformed person to scrub a past felony off of their record, rather than a get-out-of-jail free card
There is no way in hell that thing has 5 years left in it
eh, prison might be just what he needs… big tough guy like that… probably just get stronger inside…
I can see the memes already: Punished Trump
He’ll come out like The Raven.
-
The President can’t pardon state charges like these. The governor of Georgia could.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched an investigation in February 2021 into allegations of election meddling against Mr Trump and his associates.
Mr Trump, currently the frontrunner in the Republican Party’s race to pick its next candidate for the White House, said the investigation by Ms Willis, a Democrat, was politically motivated.
“This latest co-ordinated strike by a biased prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democrat jurisdiction not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also exposes the true motivation driving their fabricated accusations,” said the statement.
There was confusion earlier on Monday when a list of a criminal charges against Mr Trump appeared on a Fulton County website before the grand jury had even voted to return an indictment.
Mr Trump has already been charged by federal prosecutors in Washington DC with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
At least eight “fake electors”, who signed a bogus certificate claiming Mr Trump won the election in that state, have reached immunity deals in the case after agreeing to interviews with Fulton County prosecutors.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Trump Indicted in Georgia. Prosecutors Accuse Trump of ‘Criminal Enterprise’ to Overturn Election (gift article) (consider sharing other articles here).
It’s never RICO, until it’s RICO.
Please post this in News instead. There’s far too much of this stuff posted already.
