District Attorney Fani T. Willis discusses indictment of Donald Trump and 18 others handed down by Georgia Grand Jury in 2020 election interference probe Monday evening.
Thank you for joining us. I’m here with the prosecutors and investigators who have worked diligently on the investigation of criminal attempts to interfere in the administration of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Today, based on information developed by that investigation, a Fulton County Land Jury returned a true bill of indictment, charging 19 individuals with violations of Georgia law arising from a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in this state.
The indictment includes 41 felony counts and is ninety seven pages long. Please remember that everyone charged in this bill of indictment is presumed innocent. Specifically, the indictment brings felony charges against Donald Trump, Rudy Guiliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeffrey Clark, Jenna Ellis, Ray Stalling Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Stephen Cliffgard Lee, Harrison William Prescott Floyd, Trevian C. Kutti, Sidney Powell, Cathleen Alston Latham, Shawn Micah Tresher Still, Scott Graham Hall and Misty Hampton.
Every individual charge in the indictment is charged with 1 count of violating Georgia’s racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act through participation in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere to accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the presidential term of office beginning on January 20th 21.
Specifically, the participants in the association took various actions in Georgia and elsewhere to block the county of the votes of the presidential electors who were certified as the winners of Georgia’s 2020 general election.
As you examine the indictment, you will see acts that are identified as overt acts and those that are identified as predicate acts, sometimes called acts of racketeering activity. Over acts are not necessarily crimes under Georgia law in isolation, but are alleged to be acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Many occurred in Georgia, and some occurred in other jurisdictions and are included because the grand jury believes they were part of the illegal effort to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. The acts identified as predicate acts or acts of racketeering activity are crimes that are alleged to have been committed in furtherance of the criminal enterprise. acts of racketeering activity are also charged as separate counts in the indictment against those who are alleged to have committed them.
All elections in our nation are administered by these states, which are given the responsibility of ensuring a fair process and an accurate counting of the votes.
That includes elections for presidential electors Congress state officials and local offices. The state’s role in this process is essential to the functioning of our democracy.
Georgia, like every state, has laws that allow those who believe that results of an election are wrong, whether because of intentional wrongdoing or unintentional error, to challenge those results in our state courts. The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result.
Subsequent to the indictment, as is the normal process in Georgia law, the grand jury issued arrest warrants for those who are charged. I am giving the defendants the opportunity to voluntarily surrender no later than noon. on Friday, 25th day of August 2023.
I remind everyone here that an indictment is only a series of allegations based on a grand jury’s determination of calls to support the charges. It is now the duty of my office to prove these charges in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. I would like to take a moment to thank the Superior Court clerk Shay Alexander and her staff for staying late and making sure that this indictment was processed.
I would also like to thank the men and women of Sheriff Labat’s office for keeping the courthouse open, but most importantly, for keeping us safe over the weeks and months that have led up to this indictment and for what I know they will continue to do to keep us safe. We also wanna thank the Atlanta Police Department and other law enforcement partners who have worked with the Sheriff to keep us safe.
