Former president Donald Trump surrendered Thursday on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, a brisk 20-minute booking that yielded a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president.
Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia last week, with prosecutors using a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers, and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power. A judge in Atlanta set his bail at $200,000 on Monday.
We’re gathering the latest updates, news, and analysis. Follow along live.
Read more:
- Read the indictment
- How RICO, a law associated with mobsters, is central to charges against Trump
- A look at the 19 people charged
- Tracking the investigations Donald Trump is facing
Trump surrenders at Atlanta jail — 7:58 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump surrendered Thursday on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, a brisk 20-minute booking that yielded a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president.
Protesters gathered outside of the jail. See photos. — 5:45 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Before Trump was expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail, dozens of his supporters had already gathered Thursday morning outside the facility.
And the crowd grew steadily as the day progressed.
Here’s a look at the scene outside the jail.
Trump’s plane takes off from Newark airport — 5:28 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Trump took off in his private plane from Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday evening for Atlanta. He said he’ll turn himself in at 7:30 p.m.
The jail trump is going to is under federal investigation — 5:16 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The Fulton County Jail has long been a troubled facility. The Justice Department last month opened a civil rights investigation into conditions, citing filthy cells, violence and the death last year of a man whose body was found covered in insects in the main jail’s psychiatric wing. Three people have died in Fulton County custody in the past month.
Trump trial should be expedited to Oct. 23, district attorney says — 5:05 p.m.
By Bloomberg News
The criminal trial over the alleged attempt by Donald Trump and 18 others to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia should start Oct. 23, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told a judge, about five months earlier than her first proposal.
Willis, who indicted the group on Aug. 14, earlier this month asked the court to have the trial start March 4, but she has now moved up the date in response to a request by another defendant in the case, Kenneth Chesebro, for a speedier trial.
Trump on Thursday said he’s opposing the October trial date and said he’d seek to separate his case from Chesebro and any other codefendant who wants a quicker trial. Trump also asked the court to schedule a conference to hear his request and Willis’s on setting a trial date.
Just after Trump made his request, Fulton Judge Scott McAfee granted Chesebro’s bid for an Oct. 23 trial, and set his arraignment for Sept. 6.
McAfee hasn’t yet ruled on any of the requests. For now, the judge said the Oct. 23 trial date would apply only to Chesebro.
Trump is surrendering one day after a GOP presidential debate that he skipped — 4:40 p.m.
By Jess Bidgood, Globe Staff
During the first debate of the 2024 Republican primary, eight candidates, most of whom are polling in the single digits, tangled over abortion, Ukraine, and other issues, and lobbed cutting insults at each other while Trump — the front-runner with a formidable polling lead — hovered above the fray but far from the stage at his golf course in the decidedly northern state of New Jersey, emerging largely unscathed.
Trump is on the way to Atlanta — 3:58 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Trump departed his Bedminster, N.J., golf club on Thursday afternoon to head to the airport for his trip to Atlanta, where he will turn himself in to authorities at Fulton County Jail.
Trump says he plans to turn himself in at 7:30 p.m. — 2:47 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday afternoon that he is preparing to head to Atlanta, where he plans to turn himself in to authorities at 7:30 p.m.
“ARREST TIME: 7:30 P.M.,” Trump said in the post, in which he repeated false claims of election fraud and insulted the district attorney who brought the charges against him.
Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrenders — 2:26 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrendered in Atlanta on charges related to efforts to overturn Trump’s election loss in Georgia
Meadows had sought to avoid having to turn himself in while he sought to move the case to federal court. Bond was set at $100,000.
Willis’s office proposes Oct. 23 trial date — 1:35 p.m.
By the Associated Press
On Thursday, District Attorney Fani Willis’s office proposed an October 23 trial date, though the complexities of the 19-person case — and potential scheduling conflicts with other Trump prosecutions — would appear to make it all but impossible.
The date seemed to be a response to early legal maneuvering by at least one defendant, Kenneth Chesebro, who requested a speedy trial.
Trump is set to surrender at a Georgia jail on charges he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss — 1:14 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump was set to turn himself in Thursday to authorities in Georgia on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in that state, a county jail booking expected to yield a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president.
His Atlanta appearance will be different from others, though, requiring him to surrender at a problem-plagued jail — but without an accompanying court appearance for now. Unlike in other cities that did not require him to pose for a mug shot, Fulton County officials have said they expect to take a booking photo like they would for any other defendant.
Trump prosecution in Georgia sparks new House GOP investigation — 11:55 a.m.
By Bloomberg News
House Republicans are probing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as she prosecutes Trump and several of the former president’s allies on charges they conspired to reverse Georgia’s 2020 election results.
“Your indictment and prosecution implicate substantial federal interests, and the circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about whether they are politically motivated,” Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said in a Thursday letter to Willis.
Trump shakes up his Georgia legal team ahead of Atlanta booking — 9:47 a.m.
By The New York Times
Just before his visit to an Atlanta jail to be booked on 13 felony counts, Trump has shaken up his Georgia legal defense team, adding Steve Sadow, a veteran criminal defense lawyer who has taken on a number of high-profile cases.
Findling is expected to be let go, according to the Times, which cited a person familiar with the matter, while Little will be retained.
Other high-profile defendants surrender — 6:11 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Other high-profile defendants also surrendered Wednesday, including Jenna Ellis, an attorney who prosecutors say was involved in efforts to convince state lawmakers to unlawfully appoint presidential electors, and lawyer Sidney Powell, accused of making false statements about the election in Georgia and helping to organize a breach of voting equipment in rural Coffee County.
Giuliani turns himself in on Georgia 2020 election charges after bond is set at $150,000 — 3:31 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer and confidant, turned himself in at a jail in Atlanta on Wednesday on charges related to efforts to overturn then-President Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Bond for Giuliani, who was released after booking like the other defendants, was set at $150,000, second only to Trump’s $200,000.
Bail for Trump set at $200,000 in Georgia election interference case — 4:15 p.m.
By The New York Times
A judge in Atlanta set bail for Trump at $200,000 on Monday in the new election interference case against him, warning Trump not to intimidate or threaten witnesses or any of his 18 co-defendants as a condition of the bond agreement.
In Georgia trial against Trump, a trial within 6 months could be a stretch — 7:12 a.m.
By The New York Times
Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, said Monday that she hoped her criminal racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his allies could go to trial in the next six months.
But racketeering cases are not built for speed. Just getting this one together has taken 2 1/2 years. The effort to proceed to trial quickly in Georgia will almost certainly be complicated by the schedules of three other criminal cases that Trump is already facing in Florida, New York and Washington, D.C.
And with 19 defendants represented by a fleet of attorneys, a number of experts Tuesday didn’t expect a smooth path forward and raised the possibility that the case could potentially take years, rather than months, to lumber toward a conclusion. One defendant, Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, has already filed a motion to move the case to federal court.
Trump himself has a long history of using delay tactics in his various legal entanglements, and he, too, is likely to file pretrial motions seeking to get the case thrown out or moved to federal court. The judge in the case may also determine that six months is not enough time for defense lawyers to prepare for a trial involving so many defendants and 41 total charges, including a racketeering count that took prosecutors nearly 60 pages to describe.
Georgia clerk says ‘mishap’ caused erroneous release of list of Trump charges — 6:03 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The clerk of the Fulton County, Georgia, court system acknowledged Tuesday accidentally releasing what appeared to be a list of criminal charges against Donald Trump before he was actually indicted, and sought to deflect blame amid mounting criticism from Republicans who have seized on the blunder to characterize the case as rigged.
After refusing to explain what happened for more than a day after Reuters posted the document the media outlet said was published on the court’s website, clerk Che Alexander’s office said she was doing a “trial run” of the court’s filing system on Monday “in anticipation of issues that arise with entering a potentially large indictment.”
Trump enjoys strong support among Republicans. The general election could be a different story. — 1:09 a.m.
By the Associated Press
After every new indictment, Donald Trump has boasted that his standing among Republicans only improves — and he has a point.
Nearly two-thirds of Republicans — 63% — now say they want the former president to run again, according to new polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s up slightly from the 55% who said the same in April when Trump began facing a series of criminal charges. Seven in 10 Republicans now have a favorable opinion of Trump, an uptick from the 60% who said so two months ago.
In Georgia and federal indictments, two vastly different approaches — 10:56 p.m.
By The Washington Post
Charges against former president Donald Trump and a raft of others in Fulton County, Ga., over their alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat finally landed Monday, the result of a sprawling investigation that stretched over 2 years and led to a complex racketeering case featuring 41 criminal counts against 19 defendants in a massive 98-page indictment.
Contrast that with a federal indictment filed against Trump on Aug. 1 in Washington that also accuses him of illegally attempting to subvert and overthrow the election. In that case, Justice Department prosecutors sought charges against Trump alone. They appeared to be aiming for speed and simplicity, producing a 45-page indictment featuring four charges after an investigation of the former president that began well after the Fulton probe.
Trump’s 2024 calendar will run through multiple courthouses — 8:20 p.m.
By Jess Bidgood, Globe Staff
The latest indictment against former president Donald Trump, handed down late Monday by a Georgia grand jury, is perhaps the most sweeping addition yet to the phalanx of legal challenges he faces. The four different cases will shape the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump’s personal future, and quite possibly each other, as judges set trial dates for a defendant who is in the midst of a presidential campaign.
Here’s a primer on the warren of cases and where things might proceed from here.
Georgia case against Trump could allow cameras in courtroom — 7:10 p.m.
By The New York Times
No television cameras or still photographers captured the first three arraignments of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan, Washington and Miami. And that will likely continue when those cases go to trial over the next year or so.
But in Georgia, where Trump and 19 co-defendants were indicted Monday, state courts typically permit cameras in the courtroom. That means the sprawling conspiracy case could present the best opportunity for the public to watch the legal proceedings unfold.
“I would expect it, absolutely,” said David Hudson, general counsel for the Georgia Press Association. In 40 years of representing the state’s news media, he could not recall one trial that had been closed to cameras, he said.
The judge in the Georgia case, Scott McAfee, who was randomly assigned after the indictment was handed up Monday, has not weighed in on court procedures. But the presumption is in favor of openness.
“Open courtrooms are an indispensable element of an effective and respected judicial system,” states a 2018 order regarding Georgia’s law on recording devices in courtrooms. “It is the policy of Georgia’s courts to promote access to and understanding of court proceedings, not only by the participants in them, but also by the general public and by news media who will report on the proceedings to the public.”
In Georgia, members of the news media must apply to record the proceedings, but most applications are approved, Hudson said. There may be restrictions, including on photographing the jury.
Georgia’s RICO law is broad, giving prosecutors more latitude to pursue conspiracy charges — 4:10 p.m.
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
They share the same name, but the Georgia RICO statute Donald Trump has been charged with violating is significantly different than its federal counterpart, attorneys said Tuesday.
The federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law, enacted in 1970, has its roots in prosecuting organized crime. But states have since passed similar statutes that vary considerably in scope, with Georgia’s considered among the most wide-ranging. Prosecutors in Georgia have used that law aggressively, lawyers said.
“The Georgia RICO version is one of the broadest in the country, meaning that it can encompass more acts than just about anywhere,’’ said Ashleigh B. Merchant, a Marietta, Ga., criminal defense attorney. “Because it’s so broad ... they’re able to pull in a lot of people who are not as culpable. But they’re still on the hook for the conduct of everybody else.”
Rudy Giuliani pioneered RICO prosecutions. Now he’s charged in one. — 3:23 p.m.
By Bloomberg News
On Feb. 25, 1985, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents fanned out across New York to arrest the heads of the city’s five Mafia families on charges brought by an ambitious young federal prosecutor.
“This is a bad day, probably the worst ever, for the Mafia,” then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani said at the news conference announcing the sweep.
The so-called “Commission” case, which eventually resulted in the conviction of three bosses and five other high-ranking mobsters, introduced much of the world to a relatively new and powerful federal law — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Giuliani went on to wield RICO on Wall Street in cases against Michael Milken, Drexel Burnham Lambert and others.
But now Giuliani, the RICO pioneer, is a RICO defendant. Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday night charged him, along with former president Donald Trump and 17 others, with conspiring to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Willis’s case makes use of a state version of the federal RICO statute.
Case assigned to new GOP-appointed judge Scott McAfee — 3:06 p.m.
By The Washington Post
One of the newest judges on the Fulton County Superior Court bench, Scott McAfee, has been assigned the sprawling racketeering case that charges former president Donald Trump and 18 allies with scheming to undo Trump’s 2020 election defeat in Georgia and elsewhere.
McAfee, a lifelong Georgian who lives in Atlanta, was nominated to fill a vacancy on the bench earlier this year by Governor Brian Kemp, who had previously praised McAfee as “a tough prosecutor” who could “bring those to justice who break the law.”
Though McAfee was assigned the case soon after the indictment was handed up on Monday evening, it could be transferred to a different judge later in the process.
McAfee has worked off and on in the public realm for more than a decade, including eight years as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Justice Department in the Northern District of Georgia, where he prosecuted drug trafficking organizations, fraud and illegal firearms possession, according to a March 2021 news release from Kemp’s office. McAfee also worked on the state level as an assistant district attorney in Fulton County, where he handled many felony cases, from armed robbery to murder, the news release said.
Before he became a judge, McAfee served as the Georgia inspector general under Kemp, investigating claims of fraud, waste and abuse in the executive branch of state government.
As a judge, he has previously allowed video of court proceedings to air online, including on a YouTube channel that bears his name and title. He speaks to attorneys and defendants with a hint of a Southern drawl, the channel shows, and an American flag stands behind his chair on an elevated bench.
Who is Nathan Wade, the Georgia prosecutor who will handle Trump case? — 2:40 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The special prosecutor who is about to take the lead in the courtroom in the biggest case Atlanta has ever seen appears to have limited experience trying high-profile cases, much less a complex racketeering case involving multiple high-profile defendants.
Nathan J. Wade, who was hired last year to handle the Trump case by Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, is a veteran Atlanta-area personal injury and criminal defense lawyer. He spent a four-month stint as an assistant solicitor in the Atlanta suburb of Cobb County in 1999. In Georgia, solicitors generally prosecute matters like misdemeanors and traffic citations.
He also served as a special assistant attorney general for the state. Such lawyers usually take cases when the attorney general’s office does not have enough staff to handle a case, or when a case requires specialized knowledge. Wade did not respond to queries about the nature of his work for the state.
Special prosecutor will examine actions of Georgia’s lieutenant governor in Trump election meddling — 2:25 p.m.
By the Associated Press
A Georgia state agency said Tuesday that it will name a special prosecutor to consider whether the state’s Republican lieutenant governor should face criminal charges after former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted Monday for working to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones was one of 16 Republican electors who falsely claimed that Trump won Georgia. As a state senator, he also sought a special session of Georgia’s Legislature aimed at overturning President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state. But Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred by a judge from indicting Jones. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney agreed with Jones that Willis, an elected Democrat, had a conflict of interest because she hosted a fundraiser for the Democrat who lost to Jones in the 2022 election for lieutenant governor.
‘We’ve seen this movie before.’ White House spokesperson declines to weigh in on Trump indictment — 1:58 p.m.
By Jim Puzzanghera, Globe Staff
A White House spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday on Donald Trump’s fourth indictment, saying President Biden was focused on talking about his economic agenda.
”I’m certainly not going to comment on that. [I] would refer you to the local authorities,” Olivia Dalton, the principle deputy press secretary, told reporters travelling on Air Force One to a Biden event in Wisconsin.
Biden was scheduled to speak about Bidenomics at a Milwaukee business facility focused on energy conversion as he celebrates the one year anniversary of his signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included climate and green energy investments. He ignored shouted questions about the indictment when leaving the White House Tuesday morning.
Asked if she was worried the Trump news would divert attention from the Milwaukee event, Dalton said she wasn’t.
”You all will make your editorial decision, but this president will stay focused on delivering for the American people. That is his job. That is his priority,” she said. “And, you know, I think we’ve seen this movie before, actually.”
Rudy Giuliani pioneered RICO prosecutions. Now he’s charged in one. — 1:47 p.m.
By Bloomberg News
On February 25, 1985, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents fanned out across New York to arrest the heads of the city’s five Mafia families on charges brought by an ambitious young federal prosecutor.
“This is a bad day, probably the worst ever, for the Mafia,” then-Manhattan US Attorney Rudy Giuliani said at the press conference announcing the sweep.
The so-called “Commission” case, which eventually resulted in the conviction of three bosses and five other high-ranking mobsters, introduced much of the world to a relatively new and powerful federal law — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Giuliani went on to wield RICO on Wall Street in cases against Michael Milken, Drexel Burnham Lambert and others.
But now Giuliani, the RICO pioneer, is a RICO defendant. Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday night charged him, along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others, with conspiring to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Willis’s case makes use of a state version of the federal RICO statute.
“It’s amazing,” said Nick Akerman, a prosecutor under Giuliani in the Manhattan US Attorney’s office in the 1980s. “He was a white-knight prosecutor.”
Giuliani has denounced the Fulton County indictment, calling it “an affront to American Democracy.”
The federal RICO statute was enacted by Congress in 1970 specifically to target organized crime. Prosecutors for decades had been stymied by their inability to tie bosses to crimes committed by lower-level gangsters.
“It was really hard to reach the people at the top of the criminal enterprise,” said Clark Cunningham, a criminal law expert at Georgia State College of Law. “They would put layers between themselves and the people who did the indictable crimes.”
Watch: Globe reporter James Pindell analyzes the charges Trump is facing — 1:18 p.m.
Key allegations from the indictment — 1:10 p.m.
By Shannon Larson, Globe Staff
From tampering with voting machines in a rural Georgia county to Mark Meadows allegedly attempting to observe a signature match audit, Georgia prosecutors laid out a number of damning allegations in the indictment.
Here’s a look at a number of them.
The 19 people charged and the charges they’re facing — 1:02 p.m.
By the Associated Press and Christina Prignano, Globe Staff
Those charged in Monday’s indictment face a slew of charges, including racketeering, violating the oath of a public officer, forgery, false statements and other offenses.
Here’s who they are and the charges they’re facing.
How Trump could be arrested and booked — 12:46 p.m.
By The New York Times
Trump has until no later than noon on Aug. 25 to voluntarily surrender to authorities in Fulton County, Georgia, Fani Willis, the district attorney, said Monday.
The script that officials in Atlanta will follow for his arrest and booking is likely to deviate from the standard operating procedure, just as it did when Trump was arrested on separate charges in New York in April.
In New York, prosecutors contacted a lawyer for Trump on the evening of March 30 “to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment,” according to a post on Twitter by the district attorney, Alvin Bragg. The move was unsurprising, as suspects in white-collar cases are often given a chance to turn themselves in.
A few days later, Trump was fingerprinted and escorted through a Manhattan courthouse after surrendering to investigators from the district attorney’s office. But he was also allowed to forego certain procedural indignities, including being handcuffed and having his booking photo taken.
Some of those accommodations were likely arranged in pre-arrest discussions that the Secret Service conducted with their counterparts in the New York Police Department. In Georgia, similar coordination is likely to be undertaken by the Secret Service and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department, which is responsible for the main jail system for Atlanta, as well as courthouse security.
Georgia governor responds to Trump — 12:37 p.m.
By Tal Kopan, Globe Staff
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp pushed back on Trump’s claims that he could exonerate himself in his latest criminal case with evidence that there was election fraud in that state in 2020. Despite Kemp declining to comment on the indictment itself, given he may well be a witness if it gets to a trial, the governor tweeted a rebuke of the former president’s claims directly.
“The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen,” Kemp posted on X, with a picture of Trump’s own post from his social media platform, Truth Social.
The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen.
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) August 15, 2023
For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward - under oath - and prove anything in a court of law. Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I… pic.twitter.com/jaru2iBDo7
“For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward - under oath - and prove anything in a court of law. Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor.” Kemp also indicated he wanted to see the Republican field in 2024, which is currently led by Trump, move on. “The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus,” Kemp wrote.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger releases short statement — 11:45 a.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger released a short statement on Tuesday, saying “the most basic principles of a strong democracy are accountability and respect for the Constitution and rule of law.”
“You either have it, or you don’t,” he said.
The statement didn’t mention Trump or the charges he is facing.
On Jan. 2, 2021, Trump asked Raffensperger, a Republican, to “find” 11,780 votes to overturn his election loss in the state. Prosecutors said that call violated a Georgia law against soliciting a public official to violate their oath. Raffensperger rejected Trump’s request and stood by the state’s count, which gave Joe Biden a narrow victory
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on the new indictment: "The most basic principles of a strong democracy are accountability and respect for the Constitution and rule of law. You either have it, or you don't."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 15, 2023
Mass. lawmakers weigh in on Trump: ‘No one is above the law’ — 11:14 a.m.
By Tal Kopan, Globe Staff
Democratic lawmakers who represent Massachusetts in Congress emphasized Tuesday that Trump should be held accountable if he broke the law.
“I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a fourth time: No one is above the law,” Revere Representative Katherine Clark said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We must allow the legal process to proceed based on facts and without political interference.”
I've said it once, I'll say it a fourth time: No one is above the law.
— Katherine Clark (@WhipKClark) August 15, 2023
Donald Trump's Big Lie was an attempt to erase the votes and will of the people — the core of our democracy.
We must allow the legal process to proceed based on facts and without political interference.
Worcester Representative Jim McGovern used similar words, quoting Trump’s now infamous phone call asking Georgia to “find” him more votes. “This isn’t politics. He pressured Georgia election administrators to just make up votes that didn’t exist so he could win—even though he lost fair and square,” McGovern posted on X.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes.”
— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) August 15, 2023
—Donald Trump
This isn’t politics. He pressured Georgia election administrators to just make up votes that didn’t exist so he could win—even though he lost fair and square.
Nobody is above the law. https://t.co/bwbB2NdYbU
Boston Representative Ayanna Pressley noted the gravity of the allegations in the indictment, also on X. “These charges are damning. Accountability is essential to protecting our democracy,” she wrote.
Harassment.
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) August 15, 2023
Stealing voting equipment.
Conspiring to undermine a fair and free election.
These charges are damning.
Accountability is essential to protecting our democracy. https://t.co/uCmuo8eJ3M
Economist fears that US political ‘mayhem’ could cause a recession — 10:48 a.m.
By Jim Puzzanghera, Globe Staff
Following yet another indictment of Trump, economist Bernard Baumohl is worried that the increasing political turmoil will tip the US economy into a recession.
”There is a growing sense of unease that the economy will need to navigate through a particularly toxic backdrop: one of intense national political tribalism that may erupt into violence, a new fiscal year that could be devoid of a budget, and/or a 2024 Presidential race that makes a mockery of American exceptionalism,” Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, N.J., wrote in an unusual politically focused memo to his clients Tuesday morning.
He noted his firm does non-partisan analysis and is “determined stay on the 50-yard line politically.” He didn’t mention Trump, but Baumohl said he fears that an economy that has continued to grow despite the Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation could fall victim to “a uniquely bizarre” presidential campaign.
”We can’t rule out anything, not massive social unrest, nor a crippling cyberattack against the U.S. to sway the election, or even political operatives using artificial intelligence to create disinformation and distort reality on an unprecedented scale,” Baumohl wrote. “Can the US economy, which we project will average close to 2% growth rate thru 2024, withstand such mayhem?”
The first economic threat in this hyper-partisan environment comes this fall, when a brewing congressional fight over the expiring federal budget could lead to a government shutdown on Oct. 1. He highlighted the tensions within the Republican Party, where a conservative faction is “totally consumed with impeaching President Biden.” He put the odds of a shutdown at 50 percent.
”The question from an economist’s point of view is how ugly will domestic politics get and how severely can it impact the macroeconomy?” Baumohl. “The U.S. has already been pounded by multiple once-in-a lifetime series of shocks the last three years, and one has to be impressed by the economy’s resilience so far. Nevertheless, the economic and political risks ahead must not be discounted. They are real and should be taken seriously.”
Indictment details multiple calls, visit to home of Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman — 10:33 a.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
On Jan. 3, 2021, multiple people charged in the indictment placed calls and texts to each other and to Ruby Freeman, a Georgia election worker, according to prosecutors. Among those involved were Stephen Cliffgard Lee, a pastor, Harrison William Prescott Floyd, director of Black Voices for Trump, and Trevian Kutti, a publicist who formerly worked for the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, were the targets of right-wing conspiracy theorists who falsely claimed the two engaged in election crimes. Freeman and Moss would later testify before the House Jan. 6 committee about the harassment and threats they faced.
“Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?” Freeman testified in June 2022. “The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me.”
The calls went as follows:
- Floyd unsuccessfully called Freeman at 7:48 p.m.
- Floyd unsuccessfully called Freeman at 7:49 p.m.
- Floyd called Kutti at 7:49 p.m.
- Kutti called Floyd at 8:03 p.m.
- Floyd called “unindicted co-conspirator Individual 23, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury”
- Floyd called Lee at 8:18 p.m.
- Floyd called Kutti at 8:48 p.m.
- Floyd called Kutti at 9:16 p.m.
- Floyd called Kutti at 9:33 p.m.
- Floyd called Lee at 9:50 p.m.
“These were overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy,” the indictment states.
The next day, Kutti traveled to Freeman’s home in Cobb County, Ga., and “attempted to contact her but was unsuccessful,” the indictment states. Kutti spoke with Freeman’s neighbor and “falsely stated that she was a crisis manager attempting to ‘help’ Freeman before leaving Freeman’s home.” That same day, Kutti called Freeman and told her she was in danger, according to the indictment. Kutti “stated that she could ‘help’ Freeman and requested that Freeman meet with and speak to her that night at a Cobb County Police Department in Cobb County, Georgia.
Multiple Trump tweets cited in indictment as ‘overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy’ — 10:09 a.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
In the indictment, prosecutors cited multiple tweets Trump wrote in December 2020 and January 2021 that they allege were acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy” to overturn his election loss in Georgia.
The tweets included a range of lies, including allegations of ballot stuffing by Democrats in Georgia, the false assertion that Georgia’s governor “could easily solve this mess, & WIN,” calls for Georgia’s governor to resign for refusing to agree with Trump’s claims of election interference in the state, and false claims that widespread voter fraud took place.
Multiple tweets from Jan. 6, 2021, were also highlighted in the indictment, including when Trump pressured Mike Pence to single handedly overturn his election loss during the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory, which Pence did not have the authority to do.
“This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” the indictment states after each tweet.
Listen to the Jan. 2021 call in which Trump urged Georgia secretary of state to ‘find’ votes — 9:50 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Many of the 161 acts by Trump and his associates outlined in the Georgia indictment have already received widespread attention. That includes a Jan. 2, 2021, call in which Trump urged Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes needed to overturn his election loss. That call, prosecutors said, violated a Georgia law against soliciting a public official to violate their oath.
Georgia indictment is ‘most politically dangerous’ for Trump, UMass Lowell professor says — 9:31 a.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Of the four criminal cases Trump is facing, the Georgia indictment is the most “politically dangerous” for the former president, because it serves as another reminder to voters in the state that “Trump tried to steal the 2020 election and subvert their fairly counted ballots,” according to a UMass political science professor.
“Voter suppression and election subversion make affected voters extremely angry,” John Cluverius said in a statement. “Georgia is one of the few states with popular Republican leadership that stood up to Trump’s election lies.”
“In a close election, you need every vote you can get, and Georgia voters who may have given Trump a second chance before this indictment are a lot less likely to do so in the 2024 race,” Cluverius said.
Why it’s important that Willis is using the state’s RICO law to go after Trump — 9:17 a.m.
By The New York Times
Willis is using the state’s version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, to go after Trump.
One power of RICO is that it often allows a prosecutor to tell a sweeping story — not only laying out a set of criminal acts, but identifying a group of people working toward a common goal, as part of an “enterprise,” to engage in patterns of illegal activities.
Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is using a RICO indictment to tie together elements of a broad conspiracy that she describes as stretching far outside of her Atlanta-area jurisdiction into a number of other swing states, a legal move made possible by the racketeering statute. Her investigation also reached into rural parts of Georgia — notably Coffee County, where Trump allies got access to voting machines in January 2021 in search of evidence that the election had been rigged.
Georgia’s RICO statute allows Willis to construct a wide-ranging narrative — 8:46 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The Georgia RICO statute gives Willis’s office the ability to construct a wide-ranging narrative by citing and charging other players in the alleged wrongdoing, even those out of state.
Some legal analysts think that Jack Smith, the federal prosecutor who filed the earlier charges against Trump for trying to overturn the election, didn’t charge people identified as co-conspirators in his case, like Giuliani, because he is aiming for a trial as quickly – and with as much time as possible before the 2024 presidential election — as feasible.
Willis on Monday night said she hoped for a trial date in six months. But her office is taking a notably different, more sweeping approach from the more streamlined federal indictment. She vowed that she would seek to try all 19 defendants together.
Georgia court’s apparent error in early publishing of charges gives Trump opening to attack case — 8:19 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Hours before a Georgia grand jury handed down an indictment charging Donald Trump and 18 allies over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss late Monday, a mysterious document posted on the court’s website erroneously suggested the former president had already been charged before the file was quickly deleted.
The posting of the case before grand jurors voted on the indictment — and officials’ failure to explain what happened — gave the former president an opening in court and on the campaign trial to try to paint Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ case as tainted and the criminal justice system as rigged against him.
Video: DA Fani Willis announces indictment charges — 8:01 a.m.
By Randy Vazquez, Globe staff
Fani Willis is the Georgia prosecutor who is taking on Trump — 7:29 a.m.
By the Washington Post
Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, on Monday unveiled an indictment of former president Donald Trump and those who supported his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.
Willis’s work has prompted criticism that she has exceeded her mandate as a local prosecutor - due in part to her willingness to talk to the public and the press about the case. But Willis has remained undeterred by such critics, saying she believes transparency is a requirement of her job.
Those who know Willis say they are not surprised by her approach. They say her strategy reflects the nature of a prosecutor who is unafraid to investigate sensitive or seemingly untouchable targets.
Fani Willis says she plans to try all 19 defendants at the same time: pic.twitter.com/wouiB8hnhS
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 15, 2023
"I am giving the defendants the opportunity to voluntarily surrender no later than noon on Friday, the 25th day of August, 2023."
— The Recount (@therecount) August 15, 2023
— Fulton County DA Fani Willis on Donald Trump and his 18 allies indicted in Georgia last night pic.twitter.com/Yw73RL9QEI
Four things revealed by Trump’s Georgia indictment — 6:50 a.m.
By the Washington Post
1. The ‘co-conspirators’ do get indicted - in Georgia, at least
The biggest way in which this indictment isn’t like the others? The Trump allies it ensnared.
Smith opted this month to bring a case against Trump alone while listing six unnamed (but mostly easily identifiable) associates as unindicted co-conspirators. Willis has gone in a different direction, also indicting 18 others she says took part in the criminal enterprise.
2. The indictment focuses on false statements, oaths
A core Trump defense in the federal Jan. 6 case is the idea that he was merely exercising free speech.
But that defense won’t work as easily in Georgia, which has a broad prohibition against making “a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation . . . in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of state government.”
That law figures heavily in the indictment, with the phrase “false statement” appearing more than 100 times, including as individual counts and as part of the alleged racketeering.
Another frequently included crime is solicitation of violation of public oath by a public officer. Essentially, this amounts to asking someone to violate their sworn duties, including by asking them to help overturn a legitimate election result.
3. The crimes allegedly went well past Jan. 6
One of the more striking details comes in the 38th and 39th counts - the last charges against Trump - which date to Sept. 17, 2021, nearly eight months after Trump left office.
The charge has to do with a letter Trump sent to Raffensperger in which he enclosed a report alleging that 43,000 ballots in Atlanta-based DeKalb County were not properly handled using chain-of-custody rules. Trump suggested that Raffensperger “start the process of decertifying the election, or whatever the correct legal remedy is, and announce the true winner.”
4. The political impact might not be the trial
The prosecution of Trump and the others in Fulton County will stand out for one distinct reason: Unlike the federal trials (unless the rules change), it should be televised.
That will seemingly bring a measure of transparency to the high-stakes proceedings and create appointment viewing - just as the House Jan. 6 committee hearings did last year but potentially with even greater numbers.
But unlike the other trials, that spectacle is less likely to play out when it matters politically. The many defendants and Trump’s already crowded legal calendar make this a strong candidate for getting delayed past the 2024 election. Willis says she will ask for a trial date within six months, but that’s ambitious.
A look at the 19 people charged in Georgia indictment connected to Trump election scheme — 6:02 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Donald Trump and 18 other associates were charged Monday in Georgia as part of a sweeping indictment alleging they schemed to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss and stop the peaceful transition of power.
The indictment, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, follows an investigation that lasted more than two years and marks the fourth criminal case brought against the former president.
Those charged in Monday’s indictment face a slew of charges, including racketeering, violating the oath of a public officer, forgery, false statements and other offenses. Prosecutors say they must all surrender to authorities by Aug. 25.
There are 19 people charged in the Georgia case, according to the indictment pic.twitter.com/c5kW8HOnR6
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) August 15, 2023
Who are the lawyers representing Trump in Georgia? — 4:38 a.m.
By the New York Times
Donald Trump’s legal team includes a former prosecutor with experience in white collar cases and a career defense lawyer who started as a public defender and is best known for defending hip-hop artists.
The defense lawyer, Drew Findling, is known in rap circles in Atlanta as a “magician” because of his effective defense of clients such as Cardi B, Migos and Gucci Mane. He brings decades of trial experience, ranging from high-profile murder cases to local corruption scandals.
How the Georgia indictment against Donald Trump may be the biggest yet — 3:42 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump may be the most sweeping yet.
The sprawling, 98-page case unveiled Monday opens up fresh legal ground and exposes more than a dozen of Trump’s allies to new jeopardy.
But it also raises familiar legal issues of whether the First Amendment allows a politician to try to overturn an election. Already, Trump and his supporters are alleging the indictment is the product of a politicized, corrupt process to hobble him as he competes for the GOP nomination to face President Joe Biden next year.
Why it took so long for Georgia to bring charges against Trump — 3:04 a.m.
By the New York Times
Former President Donald Trump has denounced the various criminal cases against him as partisan, unconstitutional and weak. Prior to the sweeping charges announced in Georgia on Monday — his fourth indictment this year — Trump began pushing a new critique of prosecutors: They took too long to charge him.
In a social media post Monday, just hours before he was indicted in Georgia for conspiring to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, Trump questioned, “WHY WASN’T THIS FAKE CASE BROUGHT 2.5 YEARS AGO?” echoing an argument he recently made over federal charges of election interference.
Officials bolster security at Atlanta courthouse for fear of attacks by Trump supporters — 2:11 a.m.
By the New York Times
Officials in Atlanta have taken extraordinary steps to bolster security in and around the Fulton County court complex amid concerns that an indictment of former President Donald Trump there could attract violent pro-Trump protesters.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has been heading the 2 1/2-year investigation into whether Trump and his allies interfered in the 2020 election in Georgia, has asked the FBI to help with security at the courthouse in downtown Atlanta. She has also had some of her staff members outfitted with bulletproof vests.
How Donald Trump tried to undo his loss in Georgia in 2020 — 1:52 a.m.
By the Washington Post
Two days after Election Day in 2020, President Donald Trump’s eldest son traveled to the Georgia Republican Party headquarters in Atlanta to deliver a message.
The presidential race was still too close to call in the state and in the country. Georgia Republicans were scrambling to prepare for two runoff elections that would determine control of the U.S. Senate. But Donald Trump Jr. urged them to focus on another task: helping his father win the state by proving that widespread fraud had tainted the results.
‘Justice is being pursued,’ Hillary Clinton says — 1:04 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Appearing on MSNBC on Monday night, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump — called it “a terrible moment for our country, to have a former president accused of these terribly important crimes.”
“The only satisfaction may be that the system is working. Justice is being pursued,” Clinton added.
Top two congressional Democrats say Georgia case ‘portrays a repeated pattern of criminal activity’ by Trump — 12:46 a.m.
By the Associated Press
In a joint statement issued late Monday, the top two Democrats in Congress — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — said the fourth case against former President Donald Trump, “just like the three which came before it, portrays a repeated pattern of criminal activity by the former president.”
Schumer and Jeffries went on to urge “Trump, his supporters, and his critics to allow the legal process to proceed without outside interference.”
The fourth indictment of Donald Trump, just like the three which came before it, portrays a repeated pattern of criminal activity by the former president.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 15, 2023
From @RepJeffries and me: pic.twitter.com/rNWuBJo3c9
Trump calls Georgia case ‘election interference’ — 12:31 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Former President Donald Trump and his allies were quick to critique the Georgia case against him.
In an email soliciting fundraising for his campaign, sent out shortly after the indictment was made public Monday night, Trump called the Georgia case “the FOURTH ACT of Election Interference on behalf of the Democrats in an attempt to keep the White House under Crooked Joe’s control and JAIL his single greatest opponent of the 2024 election.”
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for a Trump-aligned super PAC, said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was joining other prosecutors pursuing cases against Trump with “their only goal being to arrest Donald Trump and prevent him from being on the ballot against Joe Biden.”
The super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., also sent out an email blasting Willis — who is seeking reelection to her post next year and recently launched a new website — for “using the Trump indictment to fundraise and campaign.”
Those statements mirrored comments issued ahead of the indictment by Trump’s campaign, which also argued Willis “strategically stalled her investigation to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign.”
Officials with Trump’s campaign also called the timing of “this latest coordinated strike by a biased prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democrat jurisdiction not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also exposes true motivation driving their fabricated accusations.”
Willis says she plans to try all 19 defendants together, will ask for trial to start within six months — 12:18 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Willis said she plans to try all 19 defendants together. She said she will ask for a trial to start within six months but added that scheduling decisions will be made by a judge.
She said the defendants are charged with conspiring to allow Trump “to seize the presidential term of office beginning on Jan. 20, 2021.”
Watch her remarks:
WATCH: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on indictment of former President Trump pic.twitter.com/DTQMZkXEWg
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 15, 2023
Several codefendants charged on Coffee County actions — 12:14 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Several of the alleged conspirators, including attorney Sidney Powell, are charged for alleged crimes related to their actions in Coffee County, a south Georgia jurisdiction where prosecutors accuse Trump allies of commandeering voting information that was the property of Dominion Voting Systems.
Prosecutors said that Powell was among those who aided that strain of the broader conspiracy through her contract with and payments to a Georgia firm, SullivanStrickler LLC, that carried out the alleged acts as part of the Trump team’s efforts to overturn Biden’s victory in the state.
Others accused of the Coffee County acts include former elections supervisor Misty Hampton, former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathy Latham and Scott Hall, a bail bondsman.
They are charged related to the alleged Coffee County acts with conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to defraud the state and conspiracy to commit computer theft, among other charges.
What does Georgia’s RICO law say, and why did prosecutors use it? — 12:07 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Georgia’s RICO Act, adopted in 1980, makes it a crime to participate in, acquire or maintain control of an “enterprise” through a “pattern of racketeering activity” or to conspire to do so. It’s important to note that the alleged scheme does not have to have been successful for a RICO charge to stick.
An “enterprise” can be a single person or a group of associated individuals with a common goal. “Racketeering activity” means to commit, attempt to commit — or to solicit, coerce or intimidate someone else to commit — one of more than three dozen state crimes listed in the law. At least two such acts are required to meet the standard of a “pattern of racketeering activity,” meaning prosecutors have to prove that a person has engaged in two or more related criminal acts as part of their participation in an enterprise to be convicted under RICO.
“I’m a fan of RICO,” Willis said during a news conference in August 2022 as she announced a RICO indictment against more than two dozen alleged gang members.
Willis has said jurors want to know all the facts behind an alleged crime and that a RICO indictment enables prosecutors to provide a complete picture of all the alleged illegal activity. A narrative introduction allows prosecutors to tell a story that can include a lot of detailed information that might not relate to specific crimes but is relevant to the broader alleged scheme.
Here’s who else was indicted alongside Trump — 12:04 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Eighteen people were indicted alongside former President Donald Trump, including some of his closest advisers and lawyers, as well as Georgia-based attorneys and political operatives.
They include attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro and Jeffrey Clark, as well as Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
Ray Smith and Robert Cheeley, lawyers working for Trump in Georgia, also were indicted for allegedly lying — Smith to a Georgia Senate committee, and Cheeley to the Georgia Grand Jury.
Three of the 16 people who falsely claimed to be Georgia’s electoral college voters were indicted: David Shafer, then the state GOP chairman; Shawn Still, who was GOP finance chairman; and Cathleen Alston Latham.
Trump campaign official Michael Roman, who was allegedly involved in the fake electors scheme, also was indicted.
Others who were charged include Michael Roman, Stephen Lee, William Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Scott Hall and Misty Hampton.
Racketeering among 13 felony charges brought against Trump — 11:48 p.m.
By the Associated Press
In total, former President Donald Trump faces a total of 13 felony charges in the Georgia case, according to filings made available late Monday on the Fulton County Clerk’s Office website.
The first among them is a violation of Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law, which is used to charge Trump and his associates for allegedly participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to overturn the state’s 2020 election result.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had been widely expected to use the law to charge Trump.
There are other charges related to allegedly trying to get a public official to violate an oath, conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery, and conspiracy to commit false statements and file false documents.
Willis names the 19 people charged in the indictment, says they have until Aug. 25 to voluntarily surrender — 11:39 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said on Monday night that her office has charged 19 people, including Donald Trump, in her office’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.
“The indictment includes 41 felony counts and is 97 pages long,” Willis said during a press conference. “Please remember that everyone charged in this bill of indictment is presumed innocent.”
Willis named everyone charged in the indictment, including Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and Jeffrey Clark.
Everyone in the indictment, Willis said, is charged under Georgia’s RICO law for allegedly participating in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County “to accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the presidential term of office beginning on Jan. 20, 2021.”
Willis said the defendants have until noon on Friday, Aug. 25 to voluntarily surrender.
Indictment details dozens of acts by Trump, allies to undo his Georgia loss — 11:26 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The indictment details dozens of acts by Trump and his allies to undo his defeat in the battleground state, including hectoring Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes to keep him power, pestering officials with bogus claims of voter fraud and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favorable to Trump.
“Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” says the indictment issued Monday night by the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will speak soon. Watch live. — 11:19 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is set to speak Monday night after Donald Trump and several allies were charged in her office’s investigation into efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in that state.
Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani also charged — 11:04 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Other defendants included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who advanced his efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia.
Trump indicted in Georgia in 2020 election interference case — 10:59 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Donald Trump and several allies were indicted in Georgia on Monday, accused of scheming to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. It’s the fourth criminal case to be brought against the former president and the second to allege that he tried to subvert the results of the vote.
The Fulton County grand jury indictment of Trump follows a two-year investigation ignited by a January 2021 phone call in which the then-president suggested that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state could help him “find 11,780 votes” needed to reverse his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
See photos of the judge receiving indictment papers — 10:46 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney received indictment papers from a grand jury on Monday night and handed them to County Clerk Che Alexander. It was not immediately clear who was charged and for what.
As indictment is returned, Trump campaign releases new statement — 10:35 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
The Trump campaign released a statement Monday night calling Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis “a rabid partisan” and accusing her of “strategically” stalling the Georgia investigation to interfere with the 2024 presidential race and hurt Trump’s chances.
People who said they were asked to testify Tuesday appeared instead on Monday — 10:16 p.m.
By the Associated Press
One person who said he’d been called to testify to the grand jury suggested on Monday that the process may be moving more quickly than anticipated. George Chidi, an independent journalist, had tweeted previously that he was asked to testify on Tuesday, but later posted he was going to court on Monday, adding: “They’re moving faster than they thought.”
Change of plans. I'm going to court today. They're moving faster than they thought.
— George Chidi (find me on Threads and Substack) (@neonflag) August 14, 2023
Chidi wrote in The Intercept last month that he barged “into a semi-clandestine meeting of Republicans pretending to be Georgia’s official electors in December 2020.” He described being thrown out of the room just after entering, told that it was an “education meeting.”
Former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, who over the weekend said he’d also been asked to testify Tuesday, instead appeared before the grand jury Monday. He told reporters outside the courthouse that the 2020 election had been “fair and legal” and said now was the “opportunity to get the real story out.”
Georgia court website published, then removed, document earlier Monday — 9:54 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The process hit an unexpected snag in the middle of the day when Reuters reported on a document listing criminal charges to be brought against Trump, including state racketeering counts, conspiracy to commit false statements and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.
Reuters, which later published a copy of the document, said the filing was taken down quickly. A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the report of charges being filed was “inaccurate,” but declined to comment further on a kerfuffle that the Trump legal team rapidly jumped on to attack the integrity of the investigation.
The office of the Fulton County courts clerk later released a statement that seemed to only raise more questions, calling the posted document “fictitious,” but failing to explain how it got on the court’s website. The clerk’s office said documents without official case numbers “are not considered official filings and should not be treated as such.” But the document that appeared online did have a case number on it.
Asked about the “fictitious” document Monday evening, the courts clerk, Che Alexander, said: “I mean, I don’t know what else to say, like, grace … I don’t know, I haven’t seen an indictment, right, so I don’t have anything.” On the question of whether the website had been hacked, she said, “I can’t speak to that.”
Grand jury heard from witnesses into the evening — 9:39 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The grand jury heard from witnesses into the evening Monday in the election subversion investigation.
Prosecutors in Fulton County presented evidence to the grand jury as they pushed toward a likely indictment, summoning multiple former state officials including the ex-lieutenant governor as witnesses.
A look at the two-year investigation — 9:24 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began investigating more than two years ago, shortly after a recording was released of a January 2021 phone call Trump made to Georgia’s secretary of state.
Here are six investigative threads Willis and her team have explored.
Indictment is returned in Georgia as grand jury wraps up Trump election probe — 9:08 p.m.
By the Associated Press
A grand jury in Georgia that has been investigating former president Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 election results in that state returned at least one indictment Monday, though it was not immediately clear against whom.
Documents were presented around 9 p.m. by the county courts clerk to the Fulton County judge who for months has been presiding over the investigation.