On Monday evening, a Georgia grand jury returned 10 indictments against former President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump In Hot Water Again
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had been conducting a sweeping investigation into whether Trump and his allies had attempted to overturn the 2020 election. However, the defendants and the charges have yet to be revealed.
Willis had enlisted a special grade jury last year that heard testimony from around 75 witnesses, and it was reported that the Grand Jury recommended indicting more than a dozen individuals. The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney at around 9 p.m. ET.
The charges come after a sprawling two-year investigation by Willis into whether Trump and his allies “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections.” The Fulton County DA had previously indicated she could use the state’s racketeering laws to indict Trump and his allies for the multifaceted effort.
The case stems from a Jan. 2, 2021 phone call, in which Trump allegedly pressured Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes he needed to defeat then President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Raffensperger, along with Republican Governor Brian Kemp, resisted the efforts by the Trump campaign to attempt to overturn the results of the election.
Biden went on to win the Peach State by some 11,000 votes, despite being seen in the run-up to 2020 as a reliably “red state.” Instead, it emerged as one of a handful of politically competitive states that helped Biden in the presidential race. It is expected to remain competitive again next year, especially after last year’s midterms saw Democratic Raphael Warnock defeat Hershel Walker in a run-off for the U.S. Senate seat – while Kemp successfully won reelection, defeating challenger Stacey Abrams.
Trump Team Responds
According to Fox News, former President Donald Trump’s campaign responded almost immediately to the 10 indictments handed down by a Georgia grand jury.
“Like Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Deranged Jack Smith, and New York AG Letitia James, Fulton County, GA’s radical Democrat District Attorney Fani Willis is a rabid partisan who is campaigning and fundraising on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictments,” the Trump campaign said via a statement.
“Ripping a page from Crooked Joe Biden’s playbook, Willis has strategically stalled her investigation to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign,” the campaign continued. “All of these corrupt Democrat attempts will fail.”
Legal Woes for Trump Continue to Mount
This is just the latest legal setback for Trump, who is still the leading GOP candidate in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Earlier this year, Former President Trump was indicted in New York for trying to conceal a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels
In addition, Trump faces federal charges in Florida and Washington, D.C. that are also related to the 2020 election and for retaining/mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.
This is a developing story.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
