And Georgia Makes Four

Trump has been indicted for the fourth time bringing his criminal charges to a total of 91.

Late Monday evening, Donald Trump was indicted for the fourth time. Like Trump’s first indictment, the latest indictment is at the state level, this time in Georgia.

The second and third indictments are through the federal court system.

What makes this indictment different from the rest is that 18 other associates of Trump have also been indicted.

With this comes a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations(RICO) charge which is typically used for cases of organized crime such as the mafia. This charge highlights the coordination and depth that Trump had engaged in when attempting to interfere, undermine, and overturn the 2020 Presidential election.

Here are the list of new charges against Trump:

• Violation of the Georgia RICO Act

• Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer - 3 Counts

• Conspiracy to Commit Impersonating A Public Officer

• Conspiracy to Commit Forgery in the First Degree - 2 Counts

• Conspiracy to Commit False Statements and Writings - 2 Counts

• Conspiracy to Commit Filing False Documents

• Filing False Documents

• False Statements and Writings - 2 Counts

The list of conspiracy charges is what leads to the RICO charge. The other co-conspirators in order of their listing on the indictment are:

• Rudy Giuliani - lawyer - 13 charges

• John Eastman - lawyer - 9 charges

• Mark Meadows - White House Chief of Staff for Trump  - 2 charges

• Kenneth Chesebro - lawyer - 7 charges

• Jeffery Clark - Former Justice Department Official - 2 charges

• Jenna Ellis - lawyer - 2 charges

• Ray Smith - lawyer - 12 charges

• Robert Cheeley - lawyer - 10 charges

• Michael Roman - Trump Campaign staff - 7 charges

• David Shafer - fake elector - 8 charges

• Shawn Still - fake elector - 7 charges

• Stephen Lee - elector intimidation - 5 charges

• Willie Lewis Floyd III - elector intimidation - 3 charges 

• Trevian Kutti - pressuring election worker - 3 charges

• Sydney Powell - lawyer - 7 charges

• Cathy Latham - fake elector - 11 charges

• Scott Hall - election equipment tampering - 7 charges

• Misty Hampton - election supervisor - 7 charges

If you want to read more on each person indicted and their specific charges, the New York Times has a great layout - gift article

The Georgia investigation into Trump began with the now infamous phone call on Jan 2, 2021, where Trump asked Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to find 11,780 votes in order to flip the Georgia election results in favor of Trump.

Raffensperger was one of several GA Republican officials that Trump spoke to and Trump’s associates called several more.

From there the case expands into the false statements of election fraud made by Trump, and the similar statements his lawyers made in state legislative hearings. All combined these form racketeering charges due to the coordinated lies between Trump and his associates.

Trump’s words riled up his base who made threats, including death threats, directed at Georgia election officials. Not only did Trump inspire and encourage such actions, he never condemned those threats or attempted to stop them. Stephen Lee even went to one election worker’s home and threatened her directly.

Next up are the fake electors. A scheme that was attempted in multiple states. This plan involved trying to replace the state assigned electors with ones picked by Trump’s team who would make sure the electoral college votes went to Trump in order to overturn the election.

In Georgia there were 16 fake electors. Many of them have since struck plea deals which likely means they will also testify against Trump and the remaining fake electors charged through this indictment.

Finally, there are the charges related to Trump allies who accessed voting equipment in Georgia, copied the contents, and shared the contents with election deniers across the country.

Besides putting personal information at risk, they also put sensitive information about the election process out onto the internet that can now be accessed and potentially used by bad actors to undermine, hack, or disrupt elections in the future.

Allegedly, Trump’s lawyers had briefed Trump on these types of strategies and that they were planning to use them to influence the election results. Further damning for Trump is that people who accessed the election data attempted to send it directly to the Trump campaign.

As with previous indictments, these charges are extremely serious and show the degree to which Donald Trump was willing to destroy the integrity of our federal elections simply to hold onto power for a few more years.

These indictments, and the upcoming trials, are critical to showing that not only is no one above the law in our country, but that any attacks on the foundations of our Democratic Republic will be fully prosecuted.

Link below for a rundown of the previous three indictments.

Georgia Indictment: https://www.fultonclerk.org/DocumentCenter/View/2077/CRIMINAL-INDICTMENT