A Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury returned a 98-page indictment on Monday night in the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The 41-count indictment charges 19 individuals, including Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Ken Chesebro, Jeffrey Clark, Jenna Ellis, Ray Stallings Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Mike Roman, David Shafer, Shawn Micah Tresher Still, Stephen Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Sidney Powell, Cathleen Latham, Scott Hall, and Misty Hampton.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pursued charging individuals under Georgia’s RICO Act which allows prosecutors to “string together crimes committed by different people toward one common goal,” Axios reported, which makes it very difficult for defense attorneys to implement a “coherent trial strategy.”
The lengthy prison sentences that come with being convicted of RICO violations are “a major incentive for co-defendants to seek deals in return for new evidence,” the report added.
In the state of Georgia, the governor does not have the ability to pardon convicts, that power rests with a Board of Pardons and Paroles, which “requires that a sentence be completed at least five years prior to applying for a pardon,” the report added. A U.S. president would not be able to pardon Trump in the case.
The case can also be broadcast on television so the public is able to witness all the evidence that is being presented.
The Trump campaign released a statement that called Willis a “rabid partisan who is campaigning and fundraising on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictments.”
The statement claimed that Willis “strategically stalled her investigation to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign” and that the accusations contained in it were “fabricated.”
The statement blasted the indictment as “election interference or election manipulation” and said that Trump used his First Amendment rights to challenge what he has claimed was a “rigged and stolen election that the Democrats do all the time.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.