Trump Issued Fourth Criminal Indictment

Former President Donald Trump was issued a criminal indictment by a Georgia Grand jury for alleged tampering with the 2020 presidential election results on August 14th according to Reuters.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed the charges against Trump who was then brought to the Grand Jury for incitement.
Trump is individually facing 13 felony counts including ‘soliciting a public official,’ and ‘filing false documents.’
Trump and 18 of his political allies were also charged under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations or RICO law which is mainly used to prosecute mobs or gangs.
Prominent names such as former lawyer Rudy Guliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows can be found amongst those 19 defendants.
This is the fourth indictment that Trump is facing.
The three other cases are as follow:
34 felony counts for a Stormy Daniels Hush Money lawsuit.
44 felony counts for the mishandling of classified documents at Trump’s Maralago estate.
4 felony counts for attempting to derail the peaceful transition of power between himself and President Joe Biden.
As all of these lawsuits add up, the list of problems on Trump’s plate keeps getting larger.
Sunnyslope AP Government Teacher Karen Cummings said, “He’s going to have state court proceedings and federal court proceedings, and they’re all in different locations, and he’s got a legal team for each one; he’s spending a lot of money on this.”
These lawsuits are all extremely serious accusations, especially this most recent Georgia indictment.
“These charges in Georgia are more serious…I think he’s got a big problem here,” said Cummings.
As Trump’s legal issues compound, the case against him has grown stronger.
According to an article published by Politico, Trump’s efforts to undo the Georgia election results were blatantly false and “were largely conducted out in the open ” which left little room for excuses.
The former president was also recorded pressuring Georgia officials to overturn election results across the state.
According to a transcript published by CNN of the phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2nd 2021, Trump said, “there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated” (referring to the vote count).
In this instance, Trump is pressuring a sitting politician to knowingly forge votes in order to make himself win.
Furthermore, an article written by CNN said that Trump “tried to convince state legislators [in Georgia] to toss Biden’s legitimate electoral votes and replace them with GOP electors.”
This scheme ultimately failed to complete its goal, leading Trump and his campaign team to take new measures in order to keep hopes of victory alive.
The former president and his team “tried to put forward a slate of fake Republican electors” to send to Washington according to an article written by CNN.
Moreover, this Georgia indictment limits the ability of a potential pardon if Trump were to be reelected to the presidency.
An article published by Politico said, “Presidents can issue pardons only for federal crimes, and the Georgia indictment involves exclusively state crimes.”
Trump would not be able to seek a pardon from the governor either.
According to an article by Politico, “Trump couldn’t even seek help from the state’s governor, because in Georgia, unlike many other states, the governor cannot issue pardons.”
This is much different from the other three cases Trump is facing and creates a scenario where if he is convicted and sentenced he will have to go to prison.
“If he actually has done these things, then he has to be held accountable…Nobody is above the law, even the president,” said Cummings.
The oddity of a situation like this leads to unanswered questions and never before seen possibilities if Trump were to be reelected.
Cummings said, “The constitution says nothing about a president who has been convicted of a crime or who is on trial; can that person serve from jail?”
Nevertheless, Trump is the front runner candidate for the GOP and is set to be the biggest opponent to the incumbent Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
Even so, a presidential candidate has never gone to such extreme lengths to “flip the script” of their own apparent loss years earlier.
Cummings said, “It’s just so unprecedented…I never thought I would have to be teaching about something like this in my AP government class.”
A March 2024 trial date has been proposed by the district attorney prosecuting Trump; however, his legal team has requested an extended date for the trial.