Georgia prosecutor gives Trump to August 25 to 'voluntarily surrender'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
15 Aug 2023 08:55
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The former President is facing his fourth trial after a Georgia prosecutor accused him and 18 others of election violations and racketeering.

Former US President Donald Trump looks on at the LIV Golf-Bedminster 2023 at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, United States, on August 13, 2023. (AFP)

Prosecutors in Atalanta, Georgia, charged former US president Donald Trump with 13 felony counts on Tuesday, in the fourth legal campaign against the 2024 Republic presidential candidate.

The indictments include charges of racketeering and a number of election violations that encompass 18 co-defendants including his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows.

The case stems back to the former President's attempt to overturn the results of his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden in the state of Georgia. It will also mark the first televised trial for Trump who is also being tried in New York, Florida, and Washington.

"Rather than abide by Georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result," Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis told reporters.

The official said Trump and the 18 other suspects had until August 25 to "voluntarily surrender" to state authorities, saying she would push for the trial to commence within the next six months.

The presidential candidate's campaign stated that the indictment was being processed and called the Fulton County prosecutor who is a Democrat, a "rabid partisan" who is "persecuting" Trump with "bogus" charges.

In a statement, Trump's lawyers took issue with the "leak of a presumed and premature indictment before the witnesses had testified or the grand jurors had deliberated," in what they say has been a "flawed and unconstitutional" process, a complaint Trump also alluded to in his post.

"Days before I announced my 2024 presidential campaign, Crooked Joe [Biden] declared on national TV that serious efforts would be taken to stop me from being able to “take power” again," the former President wrote in a letter addressed to his supporters.

Trump said Willis is "another one of Crooked Joe's rogue prosecutors," as he denied committing any crime.

Slamming what he called a "rigged" indictment, Trump said he believes that the probes come as part of an "election interference" to keep Biden in power, claiming that democrats cannot defeat him in the ballot box, therefore, they have concentrated their efforts on putting him behind bars.

"Sounds rigged to me!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"Why didn't they indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign. Witch hunt!"

In response, Willis said, "I make decisions in this office based on the facts and the law. The law is completely nonpartisan."

The Fulton Country prosecutor indicted Trumps with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which was introduced in the US to bring down mobsters and organized crime networks, as well as six conspiracy counts over alleged efforts to commit forgery, impersonate a public official, and submit false statements and documents.

The severe punishments associated with RICO cases could see co-defendants pursue cooperation deals to avoid them. The investigation targets a Trump phone call to Georgia officials where he allegedly pressed State officials to "find" the 11,780 votes that gave Biden the win during the 2020 presidential election. His chief of staff, Meadows, who was indicted for attempting to get a public official to violate his oath, was also present.