2023-08-15 04:11:37
Donald Trump, in Bedminster, New Jersey, August 13, 2023. MIKE STOBE / AFP
At the end of a day of testimony of witnesses called by the prosecution, Monday August 14, the grand jury of the county of Fulton, including Atlanta, capital of the State of Georgia, approved the ten indictments which were presented to him, in the file on the alleged illicit attempts of former US President Donald Trump to obtain the reversal of the result of the 2020 presidential election in this key state. However, the identity and number of those prosecuted are not immediately known.
If Donald Trump campaigning for the Republican primary to win back the White House in 2024, is part of it, as legal experts anticipate, and the person concerned himself, it would be his fourth criminal indictment in less than six month.
Lawyers lend to Fani Willis, the prosecutor of the county of Fulton, the intention to resort to a law in force in Georgia on the delinquency in gangs, used in particular against gangs, and foreseeing sentences of five to twenty years in prison .
The grand jury, a panel of citizens vested with investigative powers and responsible for validating a possible indictment, was formed by the prosecutor, who has been investigating this case since 2021, in order to determine whether there were enough elements to indict Donald Trump. , in particular for acts of fraud and electoral interference.
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A phone call at the heart of the investigation
Without waiting, the main interested party attacked Monday on his Truth Social platform the former Republican vice-governor of Georgia, who filed at the end of the day, believing that“He better not testify before the Fulton grand jury”. He again attacked the prosecutor, accusing her of “only wanting to ‘be Trump'” and reiterating his unsubstantiated claims that he was the one who was defrauded in Georgia in 2020 to benefit his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.
The investigation was prompted by a January 2021 phone call from Donald Trump – the recording of which has been made public – in which he asked a senior local official, Brad Raffensperger, to ” find “ the approximately 12,000 ballots in his name that he lacked to win the sixteen grand electors of this state in the south-east of the country
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The charges should reveal “a series of illegal acts to reverse the election result in Georgia: hacking, false statements, harassment, etc. », listed on social networks Anthony Kreis, a law professor at the university of this State. Conservative jurist Jonathan Turley believes that the significance given to this phone call will be “revealing” the credibility of the case. “If the accusation is based on this appeal, it will appear as a political stunt”he wrote in a column published on Monday.
TV debates
To prevent possible pressure or violence, security barriers have been installed in front of the court in Atlanta. Unlike federal trials, court proceedings in Georgia are televised, but the real estate mogul, who owes much of his fame to hosting a reality TV show, should be allowed to represent there.
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Even if he wins in 2024, if he is convicted, he will not be able to pardon himself or have the charges dropped by the prosecutor’s office, since this is a court-level case. state of Georgia, over which the federal state has no authority.
These proceedings relate to part of the facts covered by the indictment on August 1 of Donald Trump in federal court in Washington for his alleged illegal maneuvers during the 2020 election in seven crucial states, including Georgia. The trial date has not yet been set.
The former president, who crushes his opponents in the polls for the Republican primary, must also be tried in March and May 2024. He will have to answer for the purchase of the silence of an actress of X films, before the justice of the State of New York, then of his alleged negligence in the management of confidential documents, before federal justice in Florida (southeast).
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