The Republican presidential nominee for the 2024 election was indicted on 13 counts Monday, according to the indictment released late tonight (local time) in Atlanta. The basis is, among other things, a law on the fight against organized crime.
It is the fourth charge against the 77-year-old ex-president – and the second charge relating to the 2020 presidential election. Also charged were 18 other suspects, including Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani, who once achieved international fame as mayor of New York.
After two and a half years of investigation, Trump is charged a fourth time
“Trump and the other defendants refused to acknowledge Trump’s election defeat and knowingly and willfully conspired to unlawfully alter the outcome of the election in Trump’s favour,” the indictment reads. “The conspiracy had a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of organized criminal activity.”
Trump was only indicted by the federal judiciary in early August for his attempts to overturn the outcome of the election after his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden and thus stay in the White House.
The Fulton County Attorney’s Office, which includes much of Atlanta, is investigating the post-election actions of Trump and his allies in parallel with the federal judiciary, focusing on Georgia. The indictment has now been decided after two and a half years of investigations by a grand jury known in the US as a grand jury.
Georgia played a crucial role in the presidential election
In a famous phone call on January 2, 2021 – about two months after the election – the president who had been voted out asked Georgia’s election officer Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes needed for a victory in the southern state.
In addition, the confirmation of Biden’s election victory should be prevented by false electoral votes in favor of Trump. Trump supporters also broke into an election office after the election and obtained sensitive data.
Georgia had played an important role in the 2020 presidential election. The state in the south-east of the USA is a so-called swing state, in which Democrats and Republicans often have very close races. Biden’s narrow win in Georgia, along with victories in other swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania, was crucial to the outcome of the entire election.
Trump rages against Georgia prosecutor: “Fanatical partisan”
However, Trump did not acknowledge his defeat and raised allegations of massive election fraud – unsubstantiated allegations that were rejected by numerous judges and authorities and refuted by independent fact-checkers. The right-wing populist’s actions in the fight against the outcome of the election culminated in the attack by radical Trump supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Biden’s election victory was to be finally certified.
Trump has firmly rejected the allegations made against him in Georgia and repeatedly sharply attacked the responsible chief prosecutor, Fani Willis. His campaign team described Willis, who belongs to Biden’s Democrats, on Monday as a “fanatical partisan” who only follows Trump for political reasons.
Leading Republicans are behind Trump
Leading Republicans also backed the ex-president. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the “radical” prosecutor was attacking Trump to raise money for her “political career.” Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said the indictment in Georgia was just “the latest political attack in the Democrats’ witch hunt against President Trump.”
Trump has now been indicted four times in the past six months. In the spring, the presidential candidate was indicted by the New York judiciary in the affair of a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump could run in the US election even if jailed
In June, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith obtained indictment against Trump over the classified documents affair, which Trump took to his luxury Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida at the end of his term in early 2021. Two weeks ago, Trump was accused of trying to overturn the outcome of the election, also at the instigation of Jack Smith.
Trump is by far the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2024 election. The 77-year-old could run in the November 2024 presidential election even if convicted – even if he were sentenced to prison.
