The people who run the courts in Fulton County, Georgia, did something fishy. They put up a list of crimes they want to charge former President Donald Trump with, and then they took it down. They said it was a mistake, but some people think they did it on purpose. It could be seen as a blatant attempt to influence the jurors as well as violating the confidentiality of the entire panel.
Indictment watch?
The list of crimes was posted on their website for everyone to see, even though it was supposed to be secret and only known by the grand jury. The list of crimes also came out at a time when Trump was facing other legal challenges in Georgia and other states, which could affect his chances of winning or overturning the election.
The crimes they listed are very serious. They said Trump tried to cheat in the election by lying and making threats to the people who counted the votes in Georgia. They said he broke a law called RICO, which is usually used to catch gangsters and mobsters, not politicians. (Outside of the dynastic cohort that plague our current system.)
RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and it is a federal law that targets criminal enterprises that engage in illegal activities such as fraud, extortion, bribery, or murder. It is a very powerful and complex law that can carry severe penalties, including up to 20 years in prison and forfeiture of assets. It is also a very controversial and abused law that can be used to target anyone who is associated or connected with a criminal organization, even if they did not directly participate in or know about the crimes. It is a law that can be used to silence or intimidate political opponents or critics, especially if they are not popular or powerful enough to defend themselves.
Credibility concerns over disappearing docket and Wills' past
The DA, Fani Willis, who is from the same party as Joe Biden, has been saying for a long time that she wants to go after Trump for what he did in Georgia. She has also been using RICO a lot to punish people who disagree with her or accuse her of doing wrong things. See many of the attempts at people from former political opponents in the case of Vernon Jones, or in the case of former employers like Paul Howard.
Vernon Jones is a former state representative who ran against Willis in the 2020 Democratic primary election for Fulton County DA. He lost to Willis by a large margin, but he accused her of being corrupt and incompetent. He also switched parties and became a Republican, and he supported Trump in the 2020 presidential election. He claimed that Willis was using RICO to harass him and his supporters, and that she was abusing her power to go after Trump. Paul Howard is another former Fulton County DA who was Willis’ boss and predecessor. He lost his re-election bid to Willis in 2020, after he faced several allegations of sexual harassment, misconduct, and misuse of funds. He also accused Willis of being dishonest and unethical, and he said that she was using RICO to retaliate against him and his allies.
Trump’s fans are angry and say this is all a lie and a witch hunt. They say Trump won the election fair and square, and that Willis and other people are trying to destroy him and his supporters. Trump himself says the same thing. He says he won Georgia and other states that were certified for Biden by millions of votes, and that there was massive fraud and irregularities in the election. He says Willis and other prosecutors are part of a deep state conspiracy to stop him from exposing the truth and fighting for the American people.
Juror influencing?
The list of crimes also makes people wonder about the secret group of citizens who are supposed to decide if Trump should be charged or not. This group is called a grand jury, and they are supposed to be independent and confidential. But the list of crimes shows that someone may have leaked their secrets or tried to influence their decision. The grand jury is made up of 23 random people who live in Fulton County, and they are supposed to listen to the evidence and witnesses presented by the DA’s office. They are not supposed to talk to anyone else about what they hear or see, or let anyone else tell them what to do. They are supposed to vote on whether there is enough evidence to charge Trump or not, based on their own judgment and conscience. But the list of crimes suggests that someone inside or outside the DA’s office may have broken the rules or tried to sway the grand jury’s vote.
The call
Some people in the media say that Trump pressured a man named Raffensperger to “find 11,000” votes for him. They say this is proof that Trump tried to steal the election. But when we look at what Trump actually said, we see that he had many reasons to think that something was wrong with the election in Georgia. He pointed out many examples of fraud, mistakes, and violations that happened during the voting and counting. He had evidence, witnesses, and experts to back him up. He asked Raffensperger and his team to check these things and fix any problems that may have changed the result of the election.
Trump also said he was very unhappy and let down by the way Raffensperger’s office treated him and his complaints. He said they did not listen to him or look into the things he told them about. Trump did not tell Raffensperger to make up votes for him or to cheat in the election. He used the word “find” to mean that he wanted Raffensperger to search for and count the votes that were legal and that belonged to him. He thought some of these votes were lost, thrown away, or changed by mistake or on purpose.
He also used the word “recalculate” to mean that he wanted Raffensperger to fix the numbers based on the proof and arguments that he gave him. He did not ask Raffensperger to do anything wrong or bad, but rather to do his duty as the secretary of state and to make sure that the election was fair and honest. He also said that this was not only good for him, but also for Raffensperger and the people of Georgia.
The claim that Trump pressured Raffensperger is also not true, because Raffensperger himself asked Trump’s team to come and see the voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia, where a woman who worked there had doubts about how they worked. She said they were not reliable or secure, and that they could switch votes from Trump to Biden, give wrong results, or be hacked by someone else. She was not the only one who had these doubts. Many other people who worked in the elections or who watched the voting and counting also reported seeing or hearing about strange things happening with the machines. Some of these people even signed sworn statements or testified under oath about what they witnessed.
On January 1, 2021, a day before they talked on the phone, this woman sent a letter to Trump’s lawyers and invited them to check out the machines, according to messages that CNN got. The messages also show that Trump’s lawyers were happy about this chance and thanked the woman for her help. They said they wanted to see the machines for themselves and to run some tests on them. They said they had experts who knew how to do this and could find out if there was anything wrong with the machines.
The letter from this woman was not a one-time thing. It was part of a bigger effort by Trump’s team to get access to voting machines in many important states where they thought something was fishy with the election. They were not trying to break or mess with the machines, but rather to look at them and test them for any signs of problems or tricks. They were also following up on reports and stories from people who had seen or heard about different issues with Dominion machines, such as changing votes from Trump to Biden, giving wrong results, or being easy to hack or control by someone else. Dominion is the company that makes and sells the machines that were used in many states in the 2020 election. They say their machines are safe and accurate, but some people think they are not telling the truth.
Where to from here?
This whole story has made things worse for the ongoing fight over the 2020 election results, which have been questioned by Trump and his friends in many states and courts. The election results have also been challenged by claims of mistakes, errors, and fraud, which have been rejected by election officials, judges, and experts as false or minor. The election fight has split the country and made people lose trust in democracy and the system. Whether you think the election was stolen or not, the things that are happening right now are bad for everyone as they show that the system is broken.
The Fulton County DA’s office barely addressed the leaked list of crimes in the wake of charging Trump, and did not reveal why they initially said the leaked list was "fictitious," only for the final charges brought against Trump and 18 of his friends were the same as the final indictment. Trump will face a trial in Fulton County Superior Court, where he could go to jail for up to 20 years if he is found guilty.
But Trump could also fight back against the charge on legal or constitutional grounds, or ask for a different place or a dismissal of the case. He could argue that Willis is biased and has no evidence against him. He could also argue that RICO does not apply to him or his actions. He could also argue that his phone call with Raffensperger was protected by his free speech rights and his presidential duties. He could also argue that Fulton County is not a fair place for him to have a trial, because most of the people there voted for Biden and do not like him. He could ask for a different judge, a different jury, or a different location for his trial. He could also ask for the case to be thrown out altogether, because it is based on false accusations and political motives.
