Donald Trump has added a fourth criminal case to his list of ever-growing legal troubles – this time for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the swing state of Georgia.
The former president was indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County on 14 August on 13 charges accusing him of engaging in a conspiracy to replace public officials with fake electors as well as engaging in overt acts to try to alter the result of the vote count.
He surrendered at the Fulton County jail on the evening of 24 August where he was processed, including having his mug shot taken.
The indictment arrived after a two-year-long investigation by the county’s district attorney, Fani Willis, into Mr Trump’s actions in the aftermath of the election.
It is the second criminal indictment Mr Trump is facing related to his alleged interference in the election he to Joe Biden almost three years ago, following Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith announcing charges against him earlier this month.
A statement from Mr Trump’s campaign has branded the latest indictment “bogus” and accused Ms Willis of engaging in political bias by targeting him.
“Combined with the intentionally slow-walked investigations by the Biden-Smith goon squads and the false charges in New York, the timing of this latest coordinated strike by a biased prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democrat jurisdiction not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also exposes true motivation driving their fabricated accusations,” the statement from Mr Trump’s campaign read.
“They are taking away President Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech, and the right to challenge a rigged and stolen election that the Democrats do all the time. The ones who should be prosecuted are the ones who created the corruption.”
What charges is he facing?
Mr Trump is being charged with 13 criminal counts in the Georgia indictment: violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, three counts of solicitation of violating an oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, two counts of conspiracy to commit false statement and writings, conspiracy to commit filing of false documents, filing false documents and two counts making false statements.
The charges stem from an alleged plot and conspiracy Mr Trump engaged in to turn Georgia’s votes over to himself. One of the many actions he and his 18 co-defendants are accused of is hatching a plot to replace legitimate electors with false ones more sympathetic to their cause.
Former president Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding a plane at Ronald Reagan Washington Airport after his last arraignment— (AP)
This is Mr Trump’s second state criminal indictment of the year.
The first arrived in April in his hometown, New York City, by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who accused him of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to stay silent during the 2016 election campaign about an extramarital affair they had in 2006.
After that, Mr Trump faced a second indictment in June when Mr Smith handed down 37 federal charges to Mr Trump and an aide, Walt Nauta, related to the unlawful retention of classified documents post-presidency. A second Trump employee, Carlos De Oliveira, was later also accused of playing a role in the alleged coverup.
Those charges stem from a case that began early last year when officials from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) discovered more than 100 classified documents in boxes that were retrieved from Mr Trump’s private residence, Mar-a-Lago.
Stacks of boxes in the White and Gold Ballroom of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida— (Getty)
Mr Trump’s third indictment, again courtesy of Mr Smith, came in August and also pertained to the 2020 election and his alleged role in instigating the January 6 Capitol riot. There, he was charged with four counts of conspiring to defraud the US and obstruction of an official proceeding.
After the first two arraignments, Mr Trump returned to his properties in Florida and New Jersey, respectively, to deliver remarks to crowds of supporters in which he cast himself as the victim of political persecution, baselessly accusing his political rivals of interfering with his chances of winning re-election to the presidency in 2024.
He appears to have abandoned that strategy of late but, in all three cases, he pleaded not guilty to all charges and is expected to do the same in Atlanta.
Will he go to jail?
Though Mr Trump has faced all four criminal indictments, he has never been held in jail to await his arraignments or first hearings. The judge overseeing Mr Trump’s Georgia election interference case, Judge Scott McAfee, set the ex-president’s bond at $200,000 – which the former president reportedly paid 10 per cent of.
However, with his growing list of criminal cases, speculation is mounting as to whether Mr Trump will face jail time if he is convicted.
Following his first federal indictment, the classified documents affair, experts said they believed the Justice Department is likely to attempt to incarcerate Mr Trump if he is convicted.
Each charge in that case carries a maximum sentence ranging from five years to 20 years. A potential sentence could include decades in prison.
Former President Donald Trump is shown in a police booking mugshot released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office— (via REUTERS)
The same jeopardy applies in the second federal case against him concerning the 2020 election.
National security lawyer and George Washington University law professor Kel McClanahan said that the department will probably “want to go for incarceration” in the case of Mr Trump, according to Insider.
Mr McClanahan said that the evidence in the indictment is intended to show that Mr Trump “is a kingpin who knowingly broke the law, endangered national security, endangered nuclear weapon security, [and] endangered other countries’ national security”.
The consensus among most legal experts commenting on the indictment appears to be that Mr Trump is in serious legal jeopardy.
In Georgia, there are mandatory minimum sentences under the racketeering charges he faces. The former president could be sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison if he is convicted in that case too.
Sarah Krissoff, a former assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, said that “to the extent that there’s a conviction here, the Department of Justice is going to want to be seeking a real sentence” because of the “nature of the conduct, how long it lasted, his involvement, the involvement of other people, working allegedly at Trump’s direction”.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on August 24, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia— (Getty Images)
She noted that if Mr Trump is convicted, the sentence would depend on the judge.
The classified documents case is being presided over by the Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, who might be assumed to be more sympathetic to his cause but the federal case in DC is being overseen by Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has taken a hard line with Mr Trump’s supporters found guilty over their conduct during the Capitol riot.
Judge Chutkan has set his federal 2020 election interference trial date to begin on 4 March 2024 in Washington DC. Judge Cannon has chosen 20 May 2024 as the start date for Mr Trump’s classified documents trial in Florida.
Mr Trump’s hush-money payment trial is set for 25 March 2024 in Manhattan.
This story was updated on 28 August 2023 to reflect new developments
