Former American president, Donald Trump, has been indicted in Georgia for his alleged roles in trying to overturn the 2020 election in the state.
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.’
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.
The former president is accused in the 98-page charge sheet of the following felony counts, including:
- Violating Georgia’s racketeering act
- Solicitation of violation of oath by public officer
- Conspiracy to impersonate a public officer
- Conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree
- False statements and writings and filing false documents
The indictment refers to the defendants as a “criminal organization”, accusing them of other crimes including influencing witnesses, computer trespass, 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 orders.
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.
In a statement, the Trump campaign described the district attorney as a “rabid partisan” who had filed “these bogus indictments” to interfere with the 2024 presidential race and “damage the dominant Trump campaign”.
“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.
(LIB. Photo: LIB)