2023-08-16 03:23:00
Donald Trump received his fourth charge this year, accused of criminal association along with 18 other people, for having tried to interfere in the 2020 elections in the state of Georgia. The district attorney said Monday that she wants the trial to take place in the next few six months.
The latest charges that the former US president received in Georgia may carry an additional danger to the three previous charges, since aspires to return to the White House in 2024.
Trump and the 18 other defendantsamong which are Mark Meadows, his former White House chief of staff, and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, are charged with conspiracy, a charge not listed in the other criminal proceedings. A conviction on this charge, normally used against the organized crimeentails a minimum sentence of five years from prison.
Trump received his fourth indictment this year and, if he wins the elections, he could not be pardoned
In the event that Trump wins the 2024 elections, the law establishes that a president can only grant pardons for federal crimes, not state convictions. In Georgia, pardons are granted by a five-member Board of Pardons and Paroles, not by the governor, as in many other states.
Furthermore, an offender can only apply for a pardon at least five years later of having completed the prison sentence and provided that he has “led a law-abiding life” since his release.
The Georgia case is the only trial likely to be broadcast live by television, bringing it to homes across the United States and the world. The real estate magnate, who for 14 years starred in the reality “The newbie”will appear in it as a criminal defendant.
The other charges of Donald Trump
Former President Trump also faces federal charges presented by the special prosecutor Jack Smith for allegedly conspiring to try to alter the result of the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
A judge will set the trial date on August 28 in the nation’s capital, but television cameras are not allowed in federal courts.
Smith has asked that the trial begin on January 2, 2024nearly three years after Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol in a last-ditch attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
Polls show dead heat between Biden and Trump in 2024, but undecided in favor of Democrats
The special counsel has also accused Trump, current favorite for the republican nomination for the 2024 presidential elections, of negligence in the handling of confidential government documents.
Trump has pleaded not guilty federal and New York charges, and accuses Democrats of using judicial processes to prevent him from returning to the White House.
As for a possible clemency, the New York indictments, like the Georgia ones, involve state charges, not federal ones, so he wouldn’t be able to get a clemency if he won the election either.
Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who accuses Donald Trump of criminal association
Fani Willis kept the United States on edge until late at night before indicting Donald Trump. The prosecutor who investigated the attempts to manipulate the 2020 presidential elections in the state of Georgia she is the first female county prosecutor from Fulton.
Shortly after taking office in 2021, the Democrat had to decide whether to take on the former president. It was a phone call from Trump, in which pressured an official local to “find” votes for him, triggering the Willis investigation.
“My career has taught me that, whatever the political pressure, you have to do the right thing,” said the prosecutor. “And it doesn’t matter if you’re in the state capitol or in the slums, you will be held accountable if you commit a crime“, he added.
Fani Willis is Fulton County’s first female prosecutor
Willis, a 52-year-old woman of African descent who describes herself as strict, ambitious, a workaholic and allergic to failure, had her first contact with the world of law during her childhood.
He was born in California but raised in Washington, where his father, a lawyer and former member of the Black Panthers he often took her to court. She remembers that at the age of eight she was already ordering the files, both murder and drug cases.
Instead of upsetting him, this experience guided his steps: he studied at the University of Howardan institution historically with a high proportion of black students, and later at the law school of Emory, in Georgia. He graduated with a law degree, opened his own practice, and later joined the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Accused of “conspiracy,” Trump pleaded not guilty in a Washington court
Willis handles often complex cases, including a falsified test results scandal at Atlanta public schools, homicides, and gangs. He has prosecuted the rapper from Atlanta Young Thug under the so-called “Rico Law”, a text that is often used against the mafia and gangs, the same one on which he relied to indict Trump and 18 other people.
“She’s a Pitbull”described it as Vince Velázquez, an Atlanta police officer quoted by the Washington Post. “If I committed a crime, I would not want Fani Willis to prosecute me,” added the agent, who has worked with her frequently.
The capture of the Capitol in the United States
Trump, as he usually does with his adversaries, has given him a nickname: “Fake Fans”. Trump’s social network, called Truth Social, abounds with pejorative adjectives about it: “Very underperforming”, “very corrupt”, “out of control” and “racist”.
The former president and his team even accused her of having campaigned and raised funds with the slogan “I’m going for Trump”. In a speech, the Republican went so far as to insinuate that the prosecutor had had an affair with a gang member.
Willis, who said he has received threats, trusts his work. “I refuse to fail,” he declared to the Wall Street Journal the prosecutor and mother of two daughters, who works from 6:30 a.m. to at least 7 p.m.
ML / ED
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