Donald Trump Indicted by Georgia Grand Jury

The former president, Donald Trump, has been indicted by a grand jury investigating his attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election in Georgia. This marks the fourth criminal case that Trump is now facing. The indictment includes 13 charges, such as violating Georgia’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) law, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, and conspiracy to commit forgery. According to CNN, the 98-page document names 19 defendants, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Trump Justice Official Jeffrey Clark. The other defendants are:

• John Eastman
• Kenneth Chesebro
• Jenna Ellis
• Robert Cheeley
• Mike Roman
• David Shafer
• Shawn Still
• Stephen Lee
• Harrison Floyd
• Trevian Kutti
• Sidney Powell
• Cathy Latham
• Scott Hall
• Misty Hampton
• Ray Smith

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been conducting an investigation into Trump and his associates’ efforts to manipulate the election results in their favor for over two years. The investigation was sparked by a phone call in January 2021 where Trump suggested that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state could help him “find 11,780 votes” to overturn his narrow loss in the state. In a press conference held late Monday night, Willis announced that the defendants have until noon on August 25 to voluntarily surrender, the trial date will be set within the next six months, and she intends to try all the defendants together. NBC News has more details here. The introduction to the indictment reads:

• “Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. 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 indictment alleges that the 19 defendants, along with 30 “unindicted co-conspirators… and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury,” formed a criminal organization engaged in various illegal activities such as false statements and writings, impersonating a public officer, forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, acts involving theft, and perjury. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)