The indictment of former President Donald Trump in Fulton County Aug. 14 on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia was the culmination of two and a half years of investigation.
But in another sense, the case is only beginning and is likely to drag out beyond a 2024 election that could pit Republican Trump in a rematch with Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.
That’s because Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis cast a wide net in putting together a racketeering case against not only Trump but 18 other defendants and 30 unindicated co-conspirators. Each one of the defendants is accused of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a charge that carries a minimum prison sentence of five years.
“RICO trials are legendarily long affairs,” said Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America, a New York City-based progressive nonprofit founded during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In 41 counts, the 97-page indictment charges Trump and the other defendants with participating in a “criminal enterprise” that tried to convince high-ranking state and federal officials – including then-Vice President Mike Pence – to throw out the Electoral College results in favor of Biden in Georgia and a half dozen other swing states and declare Trump the winner of the electoral votes in those states.
Three of Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia case are accused of participating as “fake” electors and casting their electoral votes for Trump even though Biden carried the Peach State. Another participant in that meeting, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, could face separate charges because of a court ruling prohibiting Willis from investigating him due to a conflict of interest.
The scheme allegedly included filing false statements, lying to members of Georgia’s General Assembly, harassing and intimidating two rank-and-file Fulton County election workers, illegally accessing voting machines and data in Coffee…
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