A prosecutor in Georgia has filed charges against Donald Trump over his efforts to steal the 2020 election in that state.
On Monday, Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, charged Trump with 13 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy. And the former president had company. Several of his attorneys, campaign aides, and administration officials were charged as well, including Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. You can read the full indictment at this link.
The subject matter covered in the new indictment overlaps somewhat with special counsel Jack Smith’s election-related case, in which Smith’s team filed federal charges earlier this month. But Willis’s probe predated Smith’s, and focused on Georgia state law rather than federal law.
Willis zeroed in on several issues in particular, including the infamous call in which Trump urged Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” votes for him and the secretive convening of fake electors who pledged their votes to Trump rather than Biden.
The new indictment means Trump has gone four for four — he’s now been indicted in all four of the known criminal investigations into him. (The other three are Smith’s election probe, Smith’s classified documents probe, and New York district attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money probe.)
Notably, if Trump wins the presidency in 2024, he would have no power to end this prosecution or pardon himself, since it’s being brought under state rather than federal law. However, a trial could be a long way off given the complexity of the case.
How Trump tried to steal the election in Georgia
Trump’s Georgia legal jeopardy stems from his actions after the 2020 presidential election. When it became clear that Joe Biden had won the presidency due to his narrow victories in a handful of swing states, Trump and his allies set about trying to flip the outcomes of those states. The first stage of that effort involved urging state…
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