Former POTUS Trump among 19 indicted by Fulton County DA

BY ITORO N. UMONTUEN

On a warm Monday evening in Atlanta, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis indicted nineteen people on forty-one felony counts related to the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia. Former President Donald J. Trump, former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani, Mark Meadows, Trump-appointed lawyers, and everyone else listed vin the indictment were charged under the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

The 98-page indictment alleges the nineteen co-conspirators acted together to overturn and subvert the will of the people in the state of Georgia.

“Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020,” the indictment states. “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 other individuals that were charged are: former Georgia Chair of the Republican Party, David Shafer, state Sen. Shawn Still; attorneys John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Bob Cheeley, Ray Smith III and Kenneth Chesebro; former assistant U.S. attorney general Jeffrey Clark; former Coffee County GOP chairwoman Cathy Latham; Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall; former Coffee County elections director Misty Hampton; GOP strategist Michael Roman; publicist Trevian Kutti; Illinois pastor Stephen Cliffguard Lee; and Harrison Floyd, who served as director of Black Voices for Trump.

Here is the breakdown of the forty-one counts:

22 counts are related to forgery or submitting false documents and statements

8 counts are related to soliciting or impersonating public officers

3 counts are related to the influencing of witnesses

3 counts are related to election fraud or defrauding the state

3 counts are related to computer tampering

1 count related to racketeering

1 count related to perjury

This group of nineteen people constituted a criminal organization, according to the indictment. Moreover, the six unindicted co-conspirators in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe were named in Fani Willis’s indictment.

Giuliani, who pioneered the RICO Act when he took on the mafia, the five families in New York in 1985, now faces thirteen charges for his actions in Georgia. Tuesday morning, he released the following statement, which read in part:

“This is an affront to American Democracy and does permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system.”

Here are the four ways an individual can be charged under the RICO Statute and how it differs from the federal version of this law:

1. By directly or indirectly acquiring or maintaining any interest in or control of any enterprise, real property or personal property through a pattern of racketeering or the proceeds derived from the activity;

2. By directly or indirectly participating in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity while being employed by, or associated with, the enterprise;

3. By conspiring or endeavoring to directly or indirectly acquire or maintain any interest in, or control of, any enterprise, real property or personal property through a pattern of racketeering activity or the proceeds derived from a pattern of racketeering activity; or

4. By conspiring or endeavoring to directly or indirectly participate in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity while being employed by, or associated with, the enterprise.

Donald Trump’s attorneys described the indictment as “shocking and absurd.” The lawyers, Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg, also said, “We look forward to a detailed review of this indictment, which is undoubtedly just as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire process has been.”

It is likely the Trump team will try to get this case thrown out of Fulton County Superior Court and into the federal courthouse due to a more conservative jury pool.

How did we get here?

No matter their view, the indictment that was handed up to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney and brought by Fani Willis centered around the January 2021 phone call in which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find a certain number of votes:

“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. Flipping the state is a great testament to our country. It’s a testament that they can admit to a mistake. A lot of people think it wasn’t a mistake, it was much more criminal than that. But it’s a big problem in Georgia, and it’s not a problem that’s going away.”

The indictment also mentions the criminal organization, namely Giuliani, demonized former Fulton County Ruby Freeman, alleging she committed voter fraud on November 3, 2020. Plus, the allegations made by Trump were:

“That Ruby Freeman was a professional vote scammer and a known political operative. And That Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joseph R. Biden at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia.”

Freeman was named 30 times in the indictment.

A right to a fair and speedy trial

Willis admitted her intention is to try all nineteen co-conspirators at once and is seeking a trial date within six months. That is technically a lot. Willis also admitted she did not consult Special Counsel Jack Smith regarding the information in their respective prosecutions.

“I don’t have any desire to be first or last,” said Willis. ”We do want to move this case along and so we will be asking for a proposed order that occurs, a trial date within the next six months.”

A person convicted of racketeering under the Georgia law can face up to twenty years in prison and a fine, in addition to the penalty for the underlying crime(s).