Apparently today's planned testimony was either moved up to yesterday or it was a rope-a-dope worthy of Ali in his prime, because Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis got a true bill of indictment for not just Trump, but his whole Georgia gang late last night.
Former President Donald Trump and 18 allies were charged on Monday with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
In a sweeping 98-page indictment handed up by a Fulton County grand jury, Trump was charged with racketeering and a dozen other felonies, such as solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree and false statements and writings. The indictment contained 41 criminal counts.
It marks the fourth time that Trump has been criminally charged ― and the second time this August the former president has been indicted for his attempts to cling to power.
The Georgia case is unique because in addition to Trump, it also charges a cast of supporting players— from former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer.
The long-anticipated indictment, which came after the grand jurors heard roughly 10 hours of testimony on Monday, will place Atlanta at the center of an historic legal battle that could be bitterly waged in court as Trump campaigns to return to the White House. He has strongly denied any wrongdoing in Georgia after the 2020 election.
Also indicted Tuesday were Trump co-defendants: 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; GOP strategist Michael Roman; former Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton; former Coffee County GOP chairwoman Cathy Latham; Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall; publicist Trevian Kutti; Illinois pastor Stephen Cliffguard Lee; and Harrison Floyd, who briefly ran for a suburban Atlanta U.S. House seat before serving as director of Black Voices for Trump.
The charges are the culmination of a 2 1/2-year criminal investigation launched by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis shortly after Trump’s leaked Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Brad Raffensperger, during which he asked the Georgia secretary of state to “find” him 11,780 votes.
Fani Willis didn't just throw the book at Trump and his co-conspirators, she put the entire Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System in a railgun and set the dial to 41.
PS: Georgia's RICO statue alone is five to twenty in the state pen, and Trump is facing the rest of his life in prison if convicted. And turns out GOP Gov. Brian Kemp can't actually pardon Trump, either. The state is one of the few that has an independent pardon and parole commission, as some of you have pointed out. Trump would have to serve at least five years before even being eligible.
And on top of all that, Georgia state courts regularly broadcast proceedings.
It'll be must-see TV.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment