Shortly before midnight, Fani Willis held a press conference to break down the indictment against Trump and 18 others. A grand jury in Fulton County returned an indictment in the investigation against Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump and 18 others have been charged.
Those charged include Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Kenneth Cheseboro, Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith, David Shafer, Sidney Powell, and Cathy Latham.
Fani Willis shared her thoughts in remarks below:
I’m here with the prosecutors and investigators who have worked diligently on the investigation of criminal attempts to interfere in the administration of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Today, based on information developed by that investigation, a Fulton County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment, charging nine individuals with violations of Georgia Law arising from a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in this state.
The indictment includes 41 felony counts, and it’s 97 pages long.
Please remember that every one charged in this bill of indictment is presumed specifically the indictment brings felony charges against Donald John Trump. Rudolph William Lewis Giuliani John Charles Eastman Mark Randall metals, John cheese world. Geoffrey Clark, Jenna Lynn Ellis, Ray Stallings, Smith, the third Robert David chewing Michael a Roman David James Shaffer, Sean mica treasure Steele Steven Cliff guard Lee Harrison William Prescott, Floyd treyvion, FEA Cudi, Sydney, Catherine pal, Kathleen Austin Latham, Scott Graham Hall, and misty Hampton also known as Emily Misty haze.
Every individual charged in the indictment is charged with one count of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act through participation in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere, to accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the presidential term of office beginning on January 20, 2021.
Specifically, the participants in association took various actions in Georgia and elsewhere to block the counting of the votes of the presidential electors who were certified as the winners of Georgia’s 2020 general election.
As you examine the indictment, you will see acts that are identified as overt acts and those that are identified as predicate acts sometimes called acts of racketeering activity.
Overt acts are not necessarily crimes under Georgia law in isolation, but are alleged to be acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy. Many occurred in Georgia and some occured in other jurisdictions and are included because the grand jury believes they were part of the illegal effort to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
The acts identified as predicate acts, or acts of racketeering activity, are crimes that are alleged to have been committed in furtherance of the criminal enterprise.
Acts of racketeering activity are also charged as separate counts in the indictment. Against those who are alleged to have committed them. All elections in our nation are administered by the states, which are given the responsibility of ensuring a fair process and an accurate counting of the votes.
That includes elections for presidential electors, Congress, state officials and local offices. The state’s role in this process is essential to the functioning of our democracy. Georgia, like every state, has laws that allow those who believe that results of any election are wrong, whether because of intentional wrongdoing, or unintentional error to challenge those results in our state.
The indictment alleges that rather than by abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election results subsequent to the indictment, as is the normal process in Georgia law that the grand jury issued arrest warrants for those who are charged.
I am giving the defendants the opportunity to voluntarily surrender. No later than noon on Friday, the 25th day of August 2023.
