Former President Donald Trump looks on at the first tee prior to the start of day three of the LIV Golf Invitational – Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club on 13 August 2023 in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Mike Stobe/Getty Images via AFP
- Prosecutors
investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia
were expected to present evidence to a grand jury. - This
could lead to a multi-defendant indictment, and the fourth case against Trump in
2023. - If indicted, he would be the first former US president to
face a televised trial.
Prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election
in the US state of Georgia were expected to begin presenting evidence to a
grand jury Monday for what could be a sprawling, multi-defendant indictment.
The
case would be the fourth brought against Trump this year – it could lead to the
first televised trial of a former president, a watershed moment in US history,
and feature charges typically used to bring down mobsters.
Trump
posted a number of messages to his Truth Social platform calling the matter
“ridiculous” and urging a local election official whom he identified
by name and called a “loser” not to testify to the grand jury.
“THOSE
WHO RIGGED & STOLE THE ELECTION WERE THE ONES DOING THE TAMPERING, &
THEY ARE THE SLIME THAT SHOULD BE PROSECUTED,” Trump said, with his
indictment expected before the end of Tuesday.
One
incident highly likely to feature among the charges is a now infamous phone
call Trump placed to Georgia officials asking them to “find” exactly
the number of votes he would have needed to overturn his defeat to President
Joe Biden.
Analysts
are also expecting him to face charges over a scheme to send bogus
certification of a supposed Trump victory in Georgia to the US Congress, as well
as on false testimony given about election fraud by Trump aides.
A separate “special” grand jury heard from 75 witnesses last year and produced a secret report in February that, according to the foreperson, recommended numerous indictments.
Members of the media surround surround the Lewis R. Slaton Courthouse ahead of an expected indictment of former US President Donald Trump in Atlanta, Georgia on 14 August 2023.
Judicial
analysts expect Atlanta-area prosecutor Fani Willis to wrap the allegations
against Trump and several co-conspirators into one case under Georgia’s
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law.
Racketeering
statutes are usually used to target organised crime, but the broader Georgia law
allows prosecutors to string together offences committed by different people
toward one common goal, criminal or not.
Georgia’s
court system is more transparent than the federal system, meaning there is no
bar to the case being televised from the first preliminary hearing onwards.
The
grand jury in Fulton County meets on Mondays and Tuesdays, and local court
watchers expect Willis to conclude and bring any indictments that the panel
approves within two days, her normal timeline for racketeering cases.
