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Scheme involved fake electors, seizing voting machines, and pressuring officials in Georgia and other states to break the law
By Miriam Raftery
August 15, 2023 (Fulton County, GA) – In a sweeping 98-page indictment, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis filed indictments against former president Donald Trump and 18 others with violating the state’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The indictments, recommended by a Grand Jury, accuse the defendants of willfully joining a “conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”
41 counts in the conspiracy case include forgery, filing false documents, making false statement and writings, impersonating a public officer, pressuring public officials to violate their oaths of office to commit illegal acts in multiple states, and illegally accessing ballots on voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia, among other things.
Trump faces 13 new criminal charges in Georgia, the fourth jurisdiction where he is under criminal indictment. The former president and current presidential candidate is charged with conspiracy to impersonate a public officer (related to the slate of fake electors that cast votes and submitted them to official channels), conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to commit false statements and writings (including in official proceedings), and conspiracy to commit filing false documents. He is also charged with pressuring public officials to violate the law for the purpose of stealing the 2020 presidential election.
The indictment alleges that after Trump falsely declared victory following the Nov. 2020 election, Trump among other things personally committed the ofllowing illegal acts:
- Called Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers and pressured Bowers to unlawfully appoint electors to vote for Trump, even though Biden won the state. Bowers declined and told Trump, “I voted for you… I campaigned for you. I just won’t do anything illegal for you.”
- Joined a call to Pennsylvania legislators, made false statements and asked them to appoint electors for Trump, though Biden won Pennsylvania;
- Met with Mark Meadows and John McEntee to devise a scheme for Vice President Mike Pence to count only half the electoral votes from some states and return others to state legislators, an illegal act which Pence refused to do;
- Solicited Georgia’s Republican Speaker of the House David Ralston (since deceased) to commit a felony by arranging for Georgia to appoint presidential electors for Trump, even though Biden won Georgia;
- Called the Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel and asked her to help get certain people to meet as fake electors and cast electoral votes for Trump in states won by Biden;
- Asked U.S. Attorney General Jefrrey Rosen and Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make a false statement. Trump urged them, “Just say that the election was corrupt,and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”
- Made false and harassing statements against officials who refused his demands to violate the law, such as “What a fool Governor@BrianKempGA of Georgia is…Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verificfation NOW.”
- Submitted false documents in a lawsuit, Trump v.Kemp, which falsely claimed that thousands of votes were cast by felons, unregistered voters, underage people and dead people, without any evidence.
- Solicited Georgia’s Secretary of State,Republican Brad Raffensperger, to commit a felony by unlawfully altering certified election results.
- Making false statements to Raffensperger and other Georgia officials claiming pollworker Ruby Freeman stuffed ballot boxes, that ballots were dumped,and numerous other claims found to be false.
- Was present at a January 4, 2021 meeting with Vice President Pence, Eastman and others. After Trump pressured Pence to reject electoral voes or delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, Eastman “admitted both options violated the Electoral Count Act,” the indictment states.
- Made false statements asserting election fraud (despite losing 62 court challenges, some decided by Trump-appointed judges) in his speech at the Ellipse and urged the crowd to march to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, where violence ensued that resulted in several deaths and 140 injured Capitol police officers.
The alleged co-conspirators
Others indicted include Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, numerous Trump attorneys including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesbro, and Robert Cheeley. Others indicted include fake electors who met at Georgia’s state capitol to illegally cast votes for Trump and sent them to official sources to be substituted for real electors’ votes, individuals who succeeded in penetrating voting machines to access ballots and private data on voters, and an individual who traveled from out of state to harass and intimidate poll worker Ruby Freeman.
Some are also charged with making false statements before the state legislator and for “corruptly” soliciting Georgia officials including the Secretary of State, House Speaker,and others to illegally alter the election outcome, as well as pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to violate the U.S. Constitution and reject votes from Georgia and other states that Trump lost. The indictment details efforts to sway officials corruptly in several other states, showing a pattern among the alleged conspirators.
What’s next?
The 19 people charged have until next Friday, Aug. 26,to turn themselves in. While Trump will likely remain out on bail for now, Georgia law provides that the burden of proof is on defendants to show that they are not likely to threaten witnesses –something Trump has already done on social media in other criminal cases.
Fani Willis has said she aims to have the trial begin within six months.
RICO charges in Geogia carry a minimum five-year prison sentence and a maximum 20-year sentence; Trump faces 13 charges in Georgia.
If convicted, Trump and others cannot be federally pardoned for state crimes. Georgia also prohibits its Governor from issuing pardons and a board that can pardon individuals is prohibited from doing so until they have served at least five years in prison for their crimes.
Trump also faces federal charges in Florida over concealing his retention of classified documents, in Washington D.C. over conspiring to overturn the presidential election, and in New York over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump responds to Georgia charges
On his Truth Social platform, the President posted that he plans to release a “detailed but irrefutable report on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia” at a press conference next Monday at his Bedford, New Jersey property. “
Based on the CONCLUSIVE Report, All charges should be dropped against me & others—There will be complete EXONERATION!” Trump posted, adding, “They never went after those that Rigged the Election. They only went after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!”
It is unclear why, if Trump had any such evidence, neither he nor his attorneys ever presented it to any of the 62 courts that rejected election fraud claims,nor to any of the Republican state officials in swing states where he sought to challenge the outcome nearly three years ago.
Georgia Republican leaders denounce Trump’s actions
Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp tweeted in response to Trump’s ranting post, “The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen. For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward—under oath—and prove anything in a court of law. Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor. The future of our country is at stake in 2024, and that must be our focus.”
Trump repeatedly pressured Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” over 11,000 votes to grant Trump victory, but Raffensperger refused to commit what he believed would be an illegal act and has insisted that Joe Biden won the state, after counting the ballots three times. After the indictments, Raffensperger issued this statement: “The most basic principles of a strong democracy are accountability and respect for the Constitution and rule of law. You either have it, or you don’t.”
Former Nixon lawyer responds
John Dean served as White House Counsel to President John Nixon. In an interview on MSNBC, Dean likened the Georgia RICO charges to the network of conspirators around Nixon who went to prison for their actions, as memorialized in the movie, “All the President’s Men.”
Dean called the detailed Georgia indictment a “very impressive document” and said of the RICO conspiracy described, “It’s much bigger than Watergate. This goes to the foundation of our democracy.”
In the Watergate scandal, conspirators were convicted of participating in or covering up a break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Hotel to aid Nixon’s campaign. The scandal and coverup led to the resignation of Republican President Nixon.
Nixon’s former attorney said the evidence piling up of Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election, along with the alleged co-conspirators’ actions, are “much more serious and much more troubling” than even the anti-democratic conduct during Watergate.
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