A grand jury seated in Georgia has indicted former President of the United States, Donald Trump, for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 US elections.
Trump in his reaction to the judgment, described the indictment as “a continuation of the greatest and longest-running witch hunt in American history.”
On Monday, 14 August, 2023,Trump was charged alongside 18 others on 41 counts of felony racketeering and several other conspiracy charges.
Lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith, and other associates were named in the indictment, NBC News reports.
According to evidence presented by Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, Trump and his allies had pressured Georgia officials during the election exercise to swing votes in the ex-president’s favour.
Trump was said to have called the Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” the votes he needed to beat Joe Biden.
He was also accused of “false statements and writings for several falsehoods about voter fraud in Georgia in his communications with Raffensperger, Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs and Georgia Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany on Jan. 2, 2021.”
Reacting to the charges, Trump’s attorneys, Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg stated that the indictment was “shocking and absurd,”
In their joint release accusing the witnesses of bias, they said, “This one-sided grand jury presentation relied on witnesses who harbor their own personal and political interests — some of whom ran campaigns touting their efforts against the accused and/or profited from book deals and employment opportunities as a result,”
Trump, speaking with Fox News Digital on the night of Monday,14 August, 2023, described the indictment as “a continuation of the greatest and longest-running witch hunt in American history.”
“This politically-inspired indictment, which could have been brought close to three years ago, was tailored for placement right smack in the middle of my political campaign, where I am leading all Republicans—by a lot—and beating Joe Biden soundly in almost all polls,” he continued.
Trump faces similar charges of interference with the 2020 elections in Washington, where several of his supporters attacked the U.S Capitol in January 2021. Earlier in August, he pleaded not guilty to 4-count charges of leading a conspiracy that sought to defraud the American people by obstructing official proceedings and overturning the 2020 election.
