This is a fourth criminal charge in less than six months for Donald Trump, in the middle of the campaign for the Republican primary. The Georgia justice on Monday (August 14) indicted the former American president and 18 other people for their alleged unlawful attempts to obtain the reversal of the result of the 2020 election in this key state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appealed to a Georgia law on organized crime, used in particular against gangs and providing for sentences of five to 20 years in prison.
Despite the incumbent’s defeat in Georgia in 2020, “Trump and the other defendants refused to acknowledge that he lost and knowingly and deliberately participated in a conspiracy to illegally change the outcome of the election in his favor. “, according to the indictment.
A grand jury meeting in the capital of this southeastern state of the country approved this indictment after a day of testimony by witnesses called by the prosecution. This panel of citizens invested with investigative powers was set up by Ms. Willis, who has been investigating this case since 2021, in order to determine whether there were enough elements to indict Donald Trump, in particular for acts of fraud and election interference.
The former US president responded Tuesday morning by calling the accusation “rigged”. “It looks rigged to me,” responded Mr. Trump, campaigning for the Republican primary to win back the White House in 2024, in a message posted on his social network Truthsocial. “Why didn’t they charge two and a half years ago?” Because they wanted to do it in the middle of my political campaign. Witch hunt ! ” he added.
The latter again attacked the prosecutor, in a statement from his campaign Monday evening, calling her a “rabid partisan” serving the interests of Democratic President Joe Biden. “Willis has strategically slowed down his investigation to interfere as much as possible with the 2024 presidential race and harm the mainstream Trump campaign” in the polls, it said, without explicit confirmation of his indictment.
The investigation was prompted by a January 2021 phone call from Donald Trump (the recording of which has been made public) in which he asked a senior local official to “find” the approximately 12,000 ballots in his name that he lacked to win this state. To prevent possible pressure or violence, security barriers had been installed in front of the court in Atlanta. Unlike federal trials, court proceedings in Georgia are televised, but the real estate mogul, who owes much of his fame to hosting a reality TV show, should be allowed to represent there.
Even if he wins in 2024, if he is convicted, he will not be able to pardon himself or have the charges dropped by the prosecutor’s office, since this is a court-level case. state of Georgia over which the federal state does not have authority. These proceedings relate to part of the facts covered by the indictment on August 1 of Donald Trump in federal court in Washington for his alleged illegal maneuvers during the 2020 election in seven crucial states, including Georgia. The trial date has not yet been set.
