Former U.S President, Donald Trump and 18 others have been indicted by an Atlanta grand jury for orchestrating a “criminal enterprise” to reverse the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Gatekeepers News reports that Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state’s racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree and conspiring to file false documents.
The indictment follows a 2½-year investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D).
The probe was launched after audio leaked from a January 2021 phone call during which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to question the validity of thousands of ballots, especially in the heavily Democratic Atlanta area, and said he wanted to “find” the votes to erase his 2020 loss in the state.
A total of 41 charges are brought against 19 defendants in the 98-page indictment. Although not all face the same counts, but all have been charged with violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Willis said she has given those charged until Aug. 25 to surrender.
“Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” the indictment states.
Among those charged are Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who served as Trump’s personal attorney after the election; Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; and several Trump advisers, including attorneys John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.
Also indicted were two Georgia-based lawyers advocating on Trump’s behalf, Ray S. Smith III and Robert Cheeley; a senior campaign adviser, Mike Roman, who helped plan the elector meeting; and three prominent Georgia Republicans who served as electors: former GOP chairman David Shafer, former GOP finance chairman Shawn Still and Cathy Latham of Coffee County.
Unpopular players who participated in efforts to reverse Trump’s defeat in Georgia were also indicted, including three people accused of harassing Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman. They are Stephen Cliffgard Lee, Harrison Floyd and Trevian Kutti. The latter is a former publicist for R. Kelly and an associate of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
A final group of individuals charged in the indictment allegedly participated in an effort to steal election equipment data in rural Coffee County, Ga. In addition to Latham, the former county GOP chair, they are former Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton and Georgia businessman Scott Hall.
The former American President has now been indicted in four separate criminal investigations since April, including a federal indictment earlier this month over his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 race.
