A Georgia grand jury recommended charges against 39 people, including several high-profile Republicans, alongside former President Donald Trump in a sweeping racketeering case over alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
An Atlanta judge released the 28-page grand jury report on Friday that showed a host of people, including one sitting and two former U.S. senators, that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis declined to charge. One person, Michael Roman, did not appear on the grand jury list but was charged in the racketeering case, according to CNN.
The grand jury had recommended charging 21 people who were ultimately not charged, including former Georgia Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. Willis’ indictment filed last month named 19 people, including Trump.
The 19 co-defendants are facing a variety of charges, but all are charged with taking part in an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results under Georgia’s version of the federal RICO statute, an anti-racketeering law constructed to take down the mafia and other organized criminal enterprises.
All of those named in Willis’ indictment have pleaded not guilty. Willis has said she wants to try the case all at once, though some of the defendants are pushing back, either to have their cases expedited or moved to a different venue.
Five of the defendants, including Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, are seeking to have their cases moved to federal court. Meadows is facing two charges: violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law and soliciting a public official to violate their oath.
Attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell have filed requests to expedite their cases, so they could face trial as early as November.
Trump was booked at the Fulton County Jail last month and took a mugshot in an unprecedented moment for a former president of the United States. Trump’s 2024 campaign immediately capitalized on the photo, selling mugshot merchandise and using the image to bolster his claims of election interference and political prosecution.
The Willis indictment was the fourth in as many months that state and federal prosecutors had brought against Trump personally. The former president has maintained his innocence against all charges, accusing the prosecutors of targeting him for political reasons.
The indictments have fueled a push to have Trump’s name removed from the 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment, which bars former elected officials from running for office again after they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” Trump’s campaign has denounced the push as an “absurd conspiracy theory.”
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