Donald J. Trump is faces felony counts in the State of Georgia regarding Trump and his allies illegally seeking to overturn the state’s election results.

If Trump is charged it will mark his fourth Indictment in five months and the second to arise from his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.

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.

Among those named in the sweeping indictment, charged under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, 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 and Kenneth Chesebro, architects of a scheme to create slates of alternate Trump electors.

Also indicted were two Georgia-based lawyers advocating on Trump’s behalf, Ray S. Smith II, and Robert Cheeley; a senior campaign adviser, Mike Roman, who helped plan the elector meeting; and two prominent Georgia Republicans who served as electors: former GOP chairman David Shafer and former GOP finance chairman Shawn Still.

Several lesser known 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 associate of 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. They are former Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton, former Coffee County GOP chair Cathy Latham and Georgia businessman Scott Hall.

9:30pm EST: Georgia Grand Jury returns 10 Indictments; Awaiting Unsealing

10:54pm EST: Trump indictment is unsealed

10:57pm EST: Former President Trump and 18 co-defendants have been charged altogether with more than 41 counts in Georgia’s 2020 election probe (19 Total Charged)

11:05pmEST: Fulton County DA will be speaking live.

11:05pm EST: Those charged Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Ray S. Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Mike Roman, David Shafer, Shawn Still, Stephen Cliffgard Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Misty Hampton, Cathy Latham, and Scott Hall

11:10pm EST: Read the full indictment

11:30pm EST: Awaiting Fulton County DA to speak

11:38pm EST: Fulton County DA press conference

11:45pm EST: Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis states that there will be no probation, and the minimum sentence is jail time.

She described the landmark indictment against Donald Trump and allies for attempting to alter the 2020 elections. Ms Willis said the indictment alleged a “criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in this state” which had “the illegal goal of allowing Donald J Trump to seize the presidential term of office.”

The prosecutor announced a deadline of 25 August for the defendants to turn themselves in.

11:50pm EST: All 19 will be tried together.

Sources:

Reuters: Georgia court website briefly publishes, removes document about potential Trump charges

Rolling Stone: Trump’s ‘Co-Conspirators’ Are Already Starting to Turn on Each Other

NBC News: Fulton County grand jury returns 10 indictments in 2020 election probe for Georgia

The Independent: Trump campaign launches sprawling attack as Georgia grand jury hands down indictments

MSNBC: Hillary Clinton tells Rachel Maddow: Trump indictments mean ‘the system is working’

Washington Post: Trump charged in Georgia 2020 election probe, his fourth indictment

NBC News Now Live Feed

  • Nougat@kbin.social
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    The tastiest part here: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act carries a minimum five year prison term. If you are convicted of racketeering in Georgia, you are going to prison.

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      Another tasty little tidbit I just learned after reading the wikipedia for the RICO act: Trump’s team should be very familiar with it because Rudy Guiliani used it in the 80s to bring down a bunch of New York Mafia guys. It’s apparently fairly easy to argue RICO in court because you just have to prove a pattern of behavior.

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        Giuliani used the federal version of the law, which I gather is weak compared to the Georgia version.

        IF they actually get to a trial with living witnesses who haven’t been intimidated into silence, it could be really bad for him.

    • daikiki@lemmy.world
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      Minimum 5 year term and it’s impossible to be pardoned in Ga. until 5 years after you’ve completed your sentence.

          • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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            Yes but I think the purpose of a pardon is that there were extenuating circumstances or nuances so that the sentence doesn’t make complete sense. Like a miscarriage of justice. So the governor/president can pardon the person out of the sentence. An executive check on specific judicial cases.

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              It can be, and generally is, but it doesn’t have to be. Like trump allegedly took bribes in exchange for pardons.

              • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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                So Georgia not even allowing pardons until 5 years after the sentence is completed completely eliminates that purpose. What I’d call its main purpose.

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              In a case like that, the sentence can be commuted, which reduces or eliminates the sentence, at which point the 5 year clock starts before it can be pardoned, which would wipe the slate clean as if it never happened.

    • flagellum@lemmy.world
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      As much as I’d love to see trump in an orange jumpsuit, I don’t foresee any outcome where he actually serves prison time.

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          That’s one of the worst outcomes. That would let him, once again, escape Justice. While it wouldn’t matter to him anymore, it would still very much matter to everyone else still alive.

          Some of the other worst outcomes are: he escapes with no punishment yet again, he becomes unalive through nefarious means turning him into a martyr, or and actual Civil War is started over all this resulting in people dying.

      • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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        Most likely it gets reduced to home confinement and probation, due to cruel and unusual punishment guidelines. A prison sentence at his age would be a death sentence, which is beyond the punishment for the crime.

  • Fuzzlightyear@lemmy.one
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    The right to vote is sacred, our elections are sacred. People have thrown themselves against overwhelming force to have this right, they’ve bled for it, they’ve died for it, they’ve killed for it.

    This is not a part of the game. This is not just politics. If you fuck with our vote, you will get fucked back, one way or another.

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    This is where the rats start bailing off the sinking ship. What is going to happen here is a controlled demolition of every single person that touched Trump politically during the 2020 election. There is going to be a scramble to make deals, and attempt to avoid prison by so many people in this equation that it is going to be complete chaos optically.

    Nobody is going to know exactly what has happened until the dust settles, but mark my words there is no honor amongst thieves. This is going to be Trump’s Julius Caesar moment, and anyone involved in this who doesn’t understand that is going to lose the next 5-10 years of their life to Georgia State Prison.

    • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldOP
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      Trump sentenced himself to minimum of 2 years in prison in Georgia for witness tampering today alone. TFG is going to prison by his own action and people must understand that by now.

      • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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        I will certainly be interested to see what the judge has to say about this incident, and if they bench slap the shit out of him. It is about time someone starts handing out these shut your mouth, or I’ll shut it for you level consequences on a regular basis.

        At least in this case we know it will be broadcast to the public, so everything that occurs will be documented and immortalized in the public record for future generations to examine.

          • keeb420@kbin.social
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            They’ll transport him. Or they can put him in front of a camera in a room with lawyer(s).

            • poppy@lemm.ee
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              And what if he’s sentenced to jail for DC as well? Does her serve sentence in GA and then (if he’s still alive) get transported to a different prison? I suppose that depends on concurrent or consecutive sentencing or not?

              Edit: and/or convicted in the other state trials as well. Like, if somehow justice prevails and he is convicted everywhere I’m just curious how that plays out or will probably require some negotiating.

              • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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                The short answer: Federal sentencing supercedes State sentencing in almost all cases. So, if you are convicted in both Federal and State Court you will serve the Federal time first.

                The more in depth answer: Let’s use a current example, Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of second degree murder by the State of Minnesota and then convicted of Civil Rights violations in Federal Court after that. In his case the agreement after his Federal conviction was to allow him to serve his State & Federal sentences concurrently while serving his time within the Federal prison system.

                However, there are often stipulations that can preclude you from being able to serve your time concurrently. If, for example, you are convicted of different crimes that are not directly related to one another in both the Federal and State systems or if your State sentence happened to be longer than your Federal sentence then you may not be eligible to serve that time concurrently, in which case you serve the Federal time first before being remanded to State custody upon your release from Federal prison to serve the remainder of your sentence.

                In this specific case it is likely that the crimes would be seen to be related, so if there was a conviction that included both Federal and State prison time then the sentences would likely be served concurrently within the Federal prison system. However, if there was a Federal conviction that had a probationary sentence, and then also a RICO conviction in Georgia then the prison time would be served in the Georgia State Prison system.

                That last option is the absolute hell on earth scenario for everyone involved as the Georgia State Prison system is widely considered to be one of the worst systems in the country. Violence and corruption is rampant, and there are currently multiple investigations into wrongful deaths both in county jails as well as prison complexes. If any of them are convicted, and sentenced to Georgia State Prison they are going to have a rough time to say the least.

                • poppy@lemm.ee
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                  Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to detail out this answer. I couldn’t have asked for more! I

      • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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        NOTHING is going to happen to 45 pre-trial, no matter what he does.

        “I will treat this defendant like anyone else” is about as trustworthy as Garland saying “we will follow the trail wherever it leads”. It’s the BS they’re supposed to say.

      • Cubes@lemm.ee
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        This is irresponsible speculation, in my opinion. I have not heard any credible legal sources say that what he posted constitutes witness tampering, and judges have given him wide latitude in the past with regards to what he is allowed to say publicly because of his role as a public figure. It is far from a foregone conclusion that he “sentenced himself to minimum of 2 years” considering he has not even been charged with anything at all regarding that incident.

    • Saneless@lemmy.world
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      I hope this at least makes the next people think twice about helping out

      But we need to have real jail time

      The J6 magats who have gone to jail showed other idiots that going to places and committing crimes for dear leader isn’t going to make your life better

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        I mean did it really? The Q Shaman is already out of jail and back on Alex Jones talking about crazy shit. These people mostly got slaps on the wrist and I feel like it just encourages them to go harder.

        • Saneless@lemmy.world
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          Maybe?

          The protests for his indictment appearances were embarrassingly bad. I guess when there’s no conspiracy and no one paying for the trips, plus the fear of jail, no one shows up

    • Smokey_the_beer@lemmy.world
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      I want to believe that is true but I will not hold my breath. I don’t think any of our rulers want us to realize that they to can be held accountable for crimes.

    • btaf45@lemmy.world
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      What is going to happen here is a controlled demolition of every single person that touched Trump politically during the 2020 election.

      Yeah it won’t just be Convicted Sex Offender Treason Trump going to prison. People like Ghouliani will get prison too.

  • Jordan Lund@lemmy.one
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    This seemed to be popular information when I posted it (ahem) “elsewhere”. Thought it might be welcome to have here.

    If you’re trying to keep track of where we’re at in the Trump prosecutions:

    Updated 11:55 PM Eastern/8:55 PM Pacific 8/14/2023

    Georgia
    13 state felonies
    Election Interference
    Investigation
    Indictment - <- You Are Here
    Arrest - Defendants have until noon, Friday, 8/25 to surrender voluntarily.
    Trial - Fani Willis states she wants a trial within 6 months (2/15/2024).
    Conviction
    Sentencing

    Washington, D.C.
    4 federal felonies
    January 6th Election Interference
    Investigation
    Indictment
    Arrest <- You Are Here
    (DOJ lawyer Jack Smith has requested a trial date of 1/2/2024, Trump lawyers have yet to supply a counter date. The judge will announce a final date on 8/28)
    Trial
    Conviction
    Sentencing

    New York
    34 state felonies
    Stormy Daniels Payoff
    Investigation
    Indictment
    Arrest <- You Are Here
    Trial - March 25th, 2024
    Conviction
    Sentencing

    Florida
    40 federal felonies
    Top Secret Documents charges
    Investigation
    Indictment
    Original indictment was for 37 felonies.
    3 new felonies were added on July 27, 2023.
    Arrest <- You Are Here
    Trial - May 20, 2024
    Conviction
    Sentencing

    Other grand juries, such as for the documents at Bedminster, have not been announced.

    The E. Jean Carroll trial for sexual assault and defamation where Trump was found liable and ordered to pay $5 million before immediately defaming her again resulting in a demand for $10 million is not listed as it’s a civil case and not a crimimal one.

      • Jordan Lund@lemmy.one
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        Yeah, we have to wait for the indictment to throw to a judge and see what the judge says. It’s possible they could count his statements as threatening a witness and just take him into custody.

        • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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          I mean, any fair observer would think that.

          But judges are political animals who have future luxury trips and golf club memberships to look forward to; they aren’t gonna bite the hand that feeds.

      • afa@sh.itjust.works
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        Maybe that’s his plan? Delay and delay until (when he believes) he will win and pardons himself?

    • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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      That’s pretty shocking that the grand jurors will have their names published so every redneck can go harass them.

      Wouldn’t be surprised if that really affects their willingness to go ahead. Seems like a major flaw in the process when the person you’re investigating is known to be free to foment violence against everybody involved in the process.

      The judges and DAs get security details, these grand jurors are going to be hung out to dry.

      Massive, massive respect if they return an indictment recommendation in the face of near-certain risks to their own safety and that of their families. Not to mention having their names dragged through the mud by Fox News etc.

    • AzuleBlade@lemm.ee
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      Thanks for these updates on the timelines of the investigations, it’s hard to keep track.

    • astrsk@artemis.camp
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      I believe it was announced that all charged individuals have until the 25th to turn themselves in. Might be a good note under the Arrest section of the Georgia case.

      • Jordan Lund@lemmy.one
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        It’s there, but it might not have updated for everyone. That’s the next big date on the hit parade!

  • Arsenal4ever@lemmy.world
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    Trump finally got a majority of voters in Georgia to vote for him!

    (a grand jury needs a majority of votes to indict.)

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    Forget Trump, they indicted his Wisconsin lawyer Cheesebro! Do you know what this means? That Trump had a Wisconsin lawyer named “Cheesebro”!

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    Holy crap, they got Trump and the whole gang of criminal minions! 19 people in total including Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman…

  • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldOP
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    For those of you keeping score at home:

    Hillary Clinton: 0 indictments

    Joe Biden: 0 indictments

    Hunter Biden: 0 indictments

    Dr. Fauci: 0 indictments

    Barack Obama: 0 indictments

    Donald Trump: 4 INDICTMENTS

    Source: @itsJeffTiedrich

    • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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      Hunter is facing some federal tax and gun charges right now. Not that it matters, he’s not an elected official. It also says something about Joe’s character that he’s not threatening judges & prosecutors, or pardoning Hunter, like a certain someone else would do.

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          There is no way that the DoJ would’ve issued an indictment the same year that Garland decided to investigate Trump. These cases have been long in the making. When you swing for the king, you better not miss. They only had one shot at this, and they needed everything to be in order. That takes a lot of time.

          Look at it this way – these indictments have all come out relatively soon after each other. It took time to put the cases together, and that’s why we’re seeing the cases all produce indictments around the same time.

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            No, these prosecutors were clearly afraid of what would happen and no one wanted to be first. When NY signalled they would go first, it drew all the attention away from the others.

            The NY case is not as devastating as the others but the state fucking hates Trump so much they wanted to do it. It’s hard for Trumpers to think about multiple things at once, so the NY case will take a lot of heat for the others.

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              Through, imagine if they rushed to bring charges against trump and made a serious mistake in the paperwork or in trial. The trial could have been dismissed or mistrialed and then trump and his cronies would have fuel to fight against any further charges.

              Any charges prosecutors brought against Trump needs to be 100% fool proof, because they are presenting it to fools.

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        Also these things he’s charged with are minor in the grand scheme of things and would have been quickly pled out, if the Republicans hadn’t made a mountain out of a mole hill.

        • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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          Did you read the indictment? Their acts are spelled out in the titles alone for creating a group of people to perform a coup. These are not minor.

          • Phlogiston@lemmy.world
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            This thread is also about Hunter (who’s charges are minor and normally wouldn’t be an issue — except that the R’s think dragging Hunter through the mud some more it might make Trump look cleaner)

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        And the gun charge is something that’s usually not prosecuted. A possibly unconstitutional law.

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        Don’t suppose you’ve heard about the investigator in Ukraine who was investigating Burisma Ole Joe got fired right before releasing American funds to support them. Nope. No pay to play going on here at all. Look! Orange man bad!

        • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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          Who gives a fuck? Throw Biden in jail with Trump if he’s guilty of a serious crime. I don’t care about any of those bastards, fuck them all.

        • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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          Are you just accusing your enemies of the very thing your diaper don was impeached over? Pretty standard tactic. Yes, orange man is bad, as anyone with eyes can see.

          • Chickens@lemmy.world
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            Pretty standard tactic.

            Yeah. Like accusing your enemies of your crimes. Russian collusion much? How’d all that work out for ya?

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      Hopefully Obama is next. The man is a war criminal, try him at the Hague. Bush too while we’re at it.

      • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldOP
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        War never changes but it would be hard to pin anything on either of them. You have to show willful intent to harm noncombatants, extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, forcing POWs to fight against their own nation, etc…

        I don’t think you can prove anything like that.

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          As far as I know Jimmy Carter. Idk if “they’ve always been this way” is a reason not to start holding them accountable.

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            Oh that wasnt my point. It was mostly about how common it is and how American can’t be held accountable

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    What the fuck does it say about your party if you run this guy? I’m talking about the party not “the base” cough cultists cough. You want to be law makers but you don’t even believe in the rule of law.

    Just take the fucking mask off GOP. We fucking see you, you authoritarian scum.

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    Bolding is mine. Hmmm, I wonder who they are?

    conspiracy. Act 97. On or about the 27th day ofDecember2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP solicited Acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting United States Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make a false statement by stating, "Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen." This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

  • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldOP
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    We just witnessed Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis not throwing the book at Trump; she threw the entire library.

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        I work with a few architects who used to do work in New York City, and they did have to pay off politicians as well as city officials to have building projects permitted. It’s basically the cost of doing business there, on par with doing business in Mexico.