A Georgia grand jury indicted 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump and several allies Monday on conspiracy charges in trying to steal Georgia’s electoral votes from President Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
The Trump campaign condemned the charges as politically motivated. “Call it election interference or election manipulation,” said a campaign statement.
The indictment accuses Trump and confederates of a coordinated plan to have state officials essentially spike Biden’s victory and award the state to Trump. His strategy included the recruitment of fake presidential electors for Congress to count and an extraordinary phone call urging state election officials to “find” him more votes, according to a House investigation.
Trump has described the call as “perfect” and denied wrongdoing with alternate electors.
It is similar to the federal case in which Trump was indicted last week, one that involved multiple states.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched her investigation of Trump in February 2021. The indictment had been expected since a special grand jury recommended unspecified charges in February 2023.
Associated Press
Others indicted included former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Even if Donald Trump is elected president again, there wouldn’t be much he could do about a case against him in Georgia.
It would be a state case, and the federal government has no authority over state prosecutions. That is also the situation with the porn star hush money case out of New York.
The two other cases against the former president are federal: one involving classified materials and the other an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. If elected, Trump could theoretically pardon himself, or otherwise make those cases go away.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched her investigation of Trump in February 2021. The indictment had been expected since a special grand jury recommended unspecified charges in February 2023.