Donald Trump and 18 others were indicted Monday night on a total of 41 counts by Fulton County attorney Fani Willis, Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia, after a grand jury agreed with the outcome of the investigation. From the former president to a police chaplain, they all faced a common charge: violating the state’s Corrupt and Influenced Racketeering Organizations Act (RICO), an amendment to federal law introduced in the 1970s to control the mob. and to prosecute organized crime in general.
“Trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost and knowingly and intentionally participated in a conspiracy to illegally alter the outcome of the election in Trump’s favor,” the 98-page reads. document. In addition to the defendants, there are 30 more involved in the “criminal plan” who have not been charged – either because the evidence was not sufficient or because they cooperated with law enforcement.
The accusation can be broken down into four central schemes: the pressure on Georgian officials to attribute the state’s votes to Trump; drawing up false electoral rolls to replace the real electoral rolls; access voting machines in rural Coffee County to claim vote theft; and obstruction and concealment during the investigation.
Democrat Fani Willis took office as district attorney on January 1, 2021. Two days later, the Washington message that Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” several more by which he lost to Joe Biden in that state. A month later, he announced the start of the investigation that has now led to the indictment of the former president, along with other figures, some lawyers and other people from Trump’s team.
The suspects have until the 25th to appear before the authorities to be arrested, identified and finally heard the charges and the terms under which they will be released – in principle. Unlike what happened in the other three allegations he was targeted, Donald Trump may be subject to the treatment provided by the law, i.e. fingerprint and photograph collection and medical screening in prisons. “Unless someone tells me otherwise, we’re going to follow our normal practices,” said Sheriff Patrick Labat.
Earlier this month, Special Counsel Jack Smith issued Trump’s most serious charge yet: conspiracy and obstruction to prevent the transfer of power. But the federal indictment omitted the most damning charges — insurrection and seditious conspiracy — in what is seen as a way to get a speedy trial and easy-to-prove guilt in court. Smith, relying on the January 6 House of Representatives committee investigation, also chose, at least for now, to leave out the six co-conspirators.
Willis and his team took a longer and more complex path. Faced with the refusal of many witnesses to cooperate — such as Governor Brian Kemp, Senator Lindsey Graham, or Mark Meadows, then White House Chief of Staff — almost a year after the launch of the Willis investigation, he called for the creation of a large-scale jury for special purposes. This investigative body, composed of 23 jurors among Atlanta residents, had full subpoena powers, could not only issue indictments, but also make recommendations on the case.
The Public Prosecution Service chose to expand the investigation via RICO as much as possible. That state’s version of the law gives prosecutors a lot of leeway to line up a variety of alleged crimes, including violations of state and federal laws, including activities in other states. In addition, the law does not require suspects to have traveled to Georgia to face charges. To proceed with the racketeering case, prosecutors need at least two potential felonies in furtherance of a scheme.
Willis came to work after applying the RICO law at least twice. In one case he succeeded in getting teachers convicted of inflating test scores and in another, more recent case, the lawsuit against rapper Young Thug, accused of being one of those responsible for a suspected gang of 200 crimes.
The prosecutor, who hopes to start the trial within six months, warned in January: “The allegations are very serious. If people are charged and convicted, they risk prison terms,” she told the Washington message in his office where the motto “Integrity counts” can be read in several places. Violation of the RICO law is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. In lieu of a federal-level conviction, neither the White House nor the Justice Department have the authority to grant pardons or dismiss the case. In addition, Georgian law only allows revision of the sentence after five years of serving the sentence.
Ironically, Rudolph Giuliani, the man who became famous for using the law, is now accused of breaking it. In the early 1980s, while a federal prosecutor in New York, he charged dozens of mobsters with seemingly unrelated charges, but all under the same scheme. Its success was the launching pad for his career as mayor from the city.
Source: DN
