A grand jury in Georgia has indicted former US President Donald Trump on a fourth batch of felony charges, accusing him of attempting to rig the 2020 election in favour of Democrat candidate and victor Joe Biden.
Trump charged to overturn US election loss: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis presented the accusations, further exacerbating Trump’s already growing legal troubles as he leads the race for the Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 election.
The prosecution leveled 11 charges, including forgery and racketeering—typically employed to target members of organized crime groups—against Trump and his associates.
Furthermore, the prosecution also accused 18 other individuals, among them former Trump White House staffer Mark Meadows, and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.
The phone contact between Trump and Georgia’s top election official, Brad Raffensperger, on January 2, 2021, is what led to the indictment. Trump pleaded with Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his close loss in the state.
Raffensperger turned down the offer.
Just two weeks before Trump was slated to leave office, on January 6, 2021, his supporters stormed the US Capitol. Their aim was to prevent lawmakers from certifying Biden’s victory, and this event took place four days after the initial incident.
Willis also looked into a possible Trump campaign plot to rig the presidential and vice presidential elections by submitting fictitious lists of electors, the members of the Electoral College.
“Trump accuses Willis, an elected Democrat, of having political motivations while he denies any wrongdoing.”
Trump, 77, has already faced three criminal accusations this year, including one brought by US Special Counsel Jack Smith on suspicion of attempting to rig the election.
He has long characterised the several inquiries into him, including two impeachments, as a “witch hunt” driven by political motives.