(TheConservativeTimes.org) – A grand jury in Georgia indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 associates for election fraud, criminal racketeering, and other efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who leads the effort to prosecute Trump in Georgia, asserted that Georgia will ensure democracy by holding Trump accountable. Willis said that Trump went beyond the scope of questioning the election results and engaged in criminal actions to overturn the results, which would attempt to bypass the Trump legal team’s assertion of free speech about the election.
Willis also elaborated that the racketeering charges meant that there could be no prorated sentence and that Trump and his allies would have to be sentenced to prison if convicted. The indictment has 41 total counts, of which 13 are against Trump. The prosecution has highlighted the violation of the Georgia RICO Act, which makes it a crime to conspire or participate, acquire, or maintain an enterprise through racketeering activities. This fact establishes the prosecution’s narrative that will attempt to paint the Trump campaign’s efforts in the election aftermath as a criminal scheme to overturn the election results.
The indictment described the defendants as a criminal organization that participated in false statements, impersonating a public officer, forgery, and conspiracy to defraud the state, among other allegations. However, prosecutors could have difficulty explaining the RICO statute, which is not a commonly known criminal charge.
Trump continues to deny wrongdoing, and supporters of the President view this continued effort against him as political persecution. The previous three indictments gave Trump 78 felony charges against him. Now, with 91 charges against him, the maximum sentencing for Trump is over 641 years in prison. Critics view this as political targeting of Trump, who remains the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner. However, Trump’s critics, such as presidential candidates former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) and former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), believe his presidential campaign is an effort to escape accountability and prison.
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