Donald Trump is dealing with one indictment after another. The mountain of legal problems for the Republican is growing at a dizzying pace.
Former US President Donald Trump is facing a new large-scale indictment related to attempted voter fraud. The indictment in the US state of Georgia is the fourth against the Republican for a criminal offense.
Trump faces multiple charges. Among them is an offense that is usually used in cases of organized crime or mafia trials. The indictment is also particularly sensitive because Trump could not pardon himself if he were to become president again. In addition to him, 18 other people have to answer in court – including Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, his former White House chief of staff.
The new indictment
A jury in Atlanta on Monday evening (local time) ruled that Trump should stand trial for his attempts to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Prosecutor Fani Willis has given Trump and the other suspects until August 25 to report to the court.
The new almost 100-page indictment contains extensive allegations against the ex-president. Specifically, Trump and accomplices are accused of urging public officials to violate their oath of office. The Republican is also accused of making false statements and submitting false documents. Overall, the indictment lists 19 counts in 41 cases against the 19 accused.
Trump announces press conference
After the indictment, Trump announced a press conference for next week. At the event at his golf club in Bedminster on Monday at 11:00 a.m. local time (5:00 p.m. CEST), he wanted to present a “large, complex, detailed, but irrefutable report on voter fraud” in Georgia. He shared this on the Truth Social platform he co-founded. Based on the findings of that report, “all charges against me and others should be dropped.” The report will exonerate him.
A criminal offense from the so-called Rico law is particularly delicate. This makes it possible for the prosecution to take action against several defendants at the same time as part of a criminal organization. The law was originally enacted to combat mafia racketeering. There are long prison sentences. The indictment also mentions other people who are said to have participated in the plot.
Prosecutor Fani Willis said all of their efforts had the “illegal aim” of helping Trump win another term as president. The former president and the other defendants “knowingly and intentionally engaged in a conspiracy to unlawfully alter the outcome of the election in Trump’s favor.”
The case in Georgia is not being heard at the federal level, but at the state level. This is important because Trump could not pardon himself if convicted, even if he won the election. In the cases under federal law, this might be possible.
Trump denies allegations
Trump had previously been indicted at the federal level for his campaign against his own defeat in the 2020 election. Never before in the history of the United States before Trump has an ex-president come to court for a crime. The Republican, who wants to run again in the 2024 presidential election, rejects all allegations and sees any criminal prosecution against him as an attempt by his opponents to prevent him from re-entering the White House.
Trump also dismissed the new allegations as “witch hunts”. Trump’s lawyers called the indictment “flawed and unconstitutional.” The 77-year-old gets support from his party. “Americans see through this desperate hoax,” said US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. MP Elise Stefanik from the party’s leadership circle accused the judiciary of interfering in the election campaign.
There was also an unexpected reaction from Hillary Clinton. The Democrat lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election – the two are considered intimate enemies. Clinton was a guest on a TV show Monday night when the indictment broke. “It is a terrible moment for our country that a former president should be indicted for these terrible crimes,” she said.
The campaign against the outcome of the election
Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. But he refuses to admit defeat. The 77-year-old insists that massive electoral fraud robbed him of a win. Neither Trump nor his lawyers have presented any evidence to support these claims. Trump’s anti-election campaign culminated on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington. With the outbreak of violence, the mob tried to prevent the formal confirmation of Biden’s election victory in parliament. Several people lost their lives.
Georgia was one of the states that played a key role in the 2020 election outcome. At the time, Biden won in the state by a narrow margin of around 12,000 votes. Trump tried to have his election defeat there – as in other states – subsequently changed. Among other things, Trump bluntly called Georgia’s chief election supervisor, his Republican party colleague Brad Raffensperger, in an hour-long phone call to “find” enough votes for him to “recalculate” and rotate the result. A recording of the notorious telephone conversation was later made public.
The series of trials for Trump
In 2021, prosecutor Willis in Fulton County, Georgia, opened an investigation into these and other attempts to influence him that became public. In the coming months, in the middle of the election campaign, Trump will have to fight four trials. In the past few months, charges have been brought against the Republican in three other cases in New York, Miami and Washington. The New York case is related to hush money payments. The Miami case revolves around the safekeeping of top secret government documents in Trump’s private home. In Washington, on the other hand, it’s also about the 2020 election – about attempted voter fraud and the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
None of these cases, and no possible conviction, preclude Trump from running for president or becoming president in 2024. The case in Georgia is not being heard at the federal level, but at the state level, so he could not pardon himself if he were convicted even if he won the election. In the cases under federal law, this might be possible. Even with a victory in Georgia, Trump would not have won the 2020 election. However, at the same time he tried to overturn the results in several states at the same time – and thus collect enough votes to move into the White House.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
