#AccountabilitySummer continues. Following former President Trump’s fourth indictment this year on late Monday/early Tuesday, attention is now focused on the Georgia case. The indictment centers on allegations of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results. Reactions to the indictment reveal a stark division along partisan lines. In the January 6 federal case, meanwhile, Judge Chutkan imposed a protective order on Trump, prohibiting him from speaking broadly about evidence and witnesses in public. Despite this, Trump defied the warning and attacked the judge on social media.
Here’s what you need to know for the weekend:
Main Points for the Weekend:
1. Trump’s Fourth Indictment Sets Stage for Georgia Case
After his fourth indictment of the year earlier this week, information about the case against former President Donald Trump in Georgia is dominating the news. The indictment itself is targeted not only at Trump, but also his close allies: including Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani. Georgia prosecutors are aiming for a trial date of March 4, 2024. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ selection of this trial date appears to accommodate Trump’s other scheduled trial commitments. This signals a calculated approach to ensure the case’s momentum remains unimpeded. Negotiations regarding Trump’s surrender are ongoing.
The indictment’s use of Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act as a legal foundation raises the stakes of the case. RICO allows prosecutors to weave together various alleged crimes in a single case. Punishments in these cases are often particularly severe.
- Top point to make: For more than two years, prosecutors and a grand jury of everyday Americans in Georgia examined an array of evidence. The result was the issuance of 41 criminal charges against Trump and his associates. Trump is accused of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy involving 18 co-defendants and 30 unindicted co-conspirators: with the intention of fraudulently subverting the will of Georgia voters. Accountability is essential here in order to sustain trust in the democratic process. Accordingly, this indictment is a pivotal step towards reinforcing the fundamental principles that underpin our democracy. It sends a message that no one is above the law, and that the integrity of our elections must be preserved. Few objectives could be more important.
- If you read one thing: AP, 8/15/23, How the Georgia indictment against Donald Trump may be the biggest yet: The fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump may be the most sweeping yet. The sprawling, 98-page case unveiled late Monday night 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.
2. Spectrum of Responses Emerge as Legal Proceedings Unfold Against Trump and Allies in Georgia
As the legal process unfolds against former President Donald Trump and his allies in Georgia, reactions are revealing deep divisions. Leading Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have spoken about the importance of allowing the legal process to unfold without outside interference. However, the Republican response has been to circle wagons in Trump’s defense. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has asserted that the government has been weaponized against Trump to interfere in the 2024 election. Amidst these responses, Trump himself has not remained silent. He announced plans to release a 100-page report on alleged election fraud in Georgia. Later this week, however, he canceled these plans, reportedly due to advice from his lawyers. Public opinion on this case, meanwhile, has similarly broken down along party lines. A slight majority of respondents indicated in a recent pollthat they believe Trump broke the law.
The discourse has not been limited to political statements. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has faced a disturbing barrage of racist abuse following the indictment.
- Top point to make: Behavior that might undermine the integrity of the legal process is deeply concerning. We urge all parties, including former President Trump and his supporters, to approach the case with a commitment to transparency, accountability, and the rule of law. Everyone involved should refrain from politicizing the case and instead uphold the principles of a fair trial. For our system to function, we must ensure the independence of the judiciary and elected officials. We should have no tolerance for threats and abusive language. The racist abuse directed towards Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is unconscionable. Such actions will neither assist our democracy, nor influence the outcome of this case.
- If you read one thing:New York Times, 8/15/23, Trump Plans to Release 100-Page Report on Georgia Election Fraud Claims: Hours after former President Donald J. Trump was indicted in Georgia on charges accusing him of a conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election, his aides and allies awoke to a social-media post from the Republican front-runner inviting people to a news conference on Monday. “A Large, Complex, Detailed but irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference at 11:00 A.M. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey,” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, just before 9 a.m. He added that it will be a “CONCLUSIVE Report” after which “all charges should be dropped against me & others.”
3. Judge Imposes Protective Order in Trump’s Case Amidst Contentious Clash Over Speech
Judge Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s prosecution on charges related to his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election, imposed a protective order on the former president last Friday. The order rejected Trump’s request to be able to speak broadly about evidence and witnesses in public. Judge Chutkan later agreed to a modification requested by the Trump legal team to only apply the order to “sensitive” materials. However, she warned that she would take any necessary measures to keep him from intimidating witnesses or tainting potential jurors.
Just days later, Trump seemingly defied the warning.Taking to Truth Social, Trump posted a series of messages that not only criticized Judge Chutkan but also accused her of bias. “She obviously wants me behind bars,” Trump wrote, referring to comments Chutkan made in 2022 about the Jan. 6 mob’s threat to the peaceful transfer of power.
- Top point to make: No one wants to curtail speech. But everyone, especially high-profile figures, must be held accountable for their actions and statements. The order exists so that Trump cannot influence the legal proceedings. His subsequent comments could serve to intimidate witnesses, undermine the authority of judges, and endanger the safety of the very people who make our legal process possible. Indeed, Judge Chutkan has already been subject to death threats. In order to keep everyone safe and ensure a fair trial, Trump should adhere to his order.
- If you read one thing: Politico, 8/14/23, Trump jabs at judge in election case, testing warning against ‘inflammatory’ statements: Donald Trump slammed the judge presiding over his newest criminal case early Monday, testing her three-day-old warning that he refrain from “inflammatory” attacks against those involved in his case. In a Truth Social post just before 1 a.m., Trump assailed U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan as “highly partisan” and “very biased and unfair,” citing as evidence a statement she made during the sentencing of a woman who participated in the mob that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “She obviously wants me behind bars,” Trump wrote. Trump was alluding to Chutkan’s remark during the October 2022 sentencing of Christine Priola of Ohio. Chutkan admonished Priola, before sentencing her to 15 months in jail, about the Jan. 6 mob’s threat to the peaceful transfer of power.
Expert Voices
Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, chair and president, respectively, of the Drum Major Institute: “Former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment in Georgia serves as a reminder that the state is ground zero for the threats facing our democracy, and we must continue the fight to protect our precious freedom to vote. Since then-President Trump demanded that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ‘find’ him 11,780 votes in 2020, voting rights have deteriorated in Georgia. While Governor Brian Kemp certified Georgia’s election results, flipping the state blue for the first time in 30 years, he later justified Trump’s ‘election fraud’ cries by smoothing the way for a new set of election restrictions, which experts are likening to the Jim Crow era.” Newsweek Op-Ed: Georgia Remains Ground Zero for Threats Facing Democracy
Barbara McQuade, former US attorney: “When I served as U.S. attorney in Detroit, my office used RICO to prosecute street gangs, as well as corrupt public officials and their criminal associates. The advantages of RICO are that it allows prosecutors to go after both the underlings who engage in criminal conduct directly and the bosses at the top who call the shots and reap the benefits of illegal activity while keeping their hands clean. RICO also permits a prosecutor to show a jury the entire scope of criminal activity by bringing into one case conduct that might otherwise appear to constitute separate conspiracies and tying them together when they have a common goal. And it allows prosecutors to reach outside their own jurisdictions to bring in acts that occurred in other places as long as they were part of the same patterns of racketeering activity. In Willis’ case, RICO allows her to include alleged computer intrusions into voting equipment in Coffee County.” MSNBC Op-Ed
VIDEO: Norm Eisen, House Judiciary special counsel in first Trump impeachment trial: “W/ three other major criminal cases on Trump’s calendar, Fani Willis’s might not be the first[.] But it might be the most important! I discussed all the cases & the calendar w/ @KateBolduan on @CNN @NewsCentralCNN” Tweet
Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket: “These [2020 election] indictments are critical to our system of justice and the rule of law. But they cover only a fraction of the damage Trump and his allies have done to our system of elections. The indictments only cover a snapshot in time. To present their cases to a jury, prosecutors need to tell a story of criminality with a beginning and an end. The Georgia indictment claims that Trump began his conspiracy on Nov. 4, 2020 — the day after the 2020 general election. The Washington, D.C. grand jury pegged the date as ten days later, on Nov. 14, 2020. Both indictments agree that the illegal conduct began after the election. But the specific legal charges do not define the underlying conduct, only its prescribed penalty. We should not allow the criminal law to cramp our understanding of how corrosive Trump was before the 2020 election and how dangerous he remains today. The criminal law may set the outer boundaries of what can be punished but it does not define the parameters of harm to individuals and to society.” Democracy Docket
