![]() No former president has ever been prosecuted before, a lack of historical precedent Trump’s team has seized on in trying to get the indictment tossed out.īut Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, flatly rejected Trump’s arguments, saying the office of the president “does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.” The argument that Trump is immune from prosecution has for months been seen as perhaps the most weighty and legally consequential objection made by the Trump lawyers ahead of trial. The charge is among the four brought by Smith against Trump, so a ruling in favor of the accused rioters could upend not only those cases but also affect the prosecution of the ex-president. The Supreme Court dealt further uncertainty to the timing and overall fate of the case Wednesday as it said it would review a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding that has been brought against more than 300 participants in the Jan. But it did not signal what it would ultimately do. ![]() ![]() The court indicated that it would decide quickly whether to take the case up, ordering Trump’s lawyers to respond by Dec. Supreme Court on Monday to fast-track an opinion on the immunity question that would permit the prosecution to proceed. Sisak in New York, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.But special counsel Jack Smith, in a sign of both the gravity of the issue and his determination to keep the case on schedule, sought to leapfrog the appeals court by asking the U.S. 2, 2021, including that up to 300,000 ballots “were dropped mysteriously into the rolls” in the 2020 election, that more than 4,500 people voted who weren’t on registration lists and that a Fulton County election worker, Ruby Freeman, was a “professional vote scammer.”Īssociated Press writers Jeffrey Martin and Brynn Anderson in Atlanta Jill Colvin and Michael R. The indictment charges Trump with making false statements and writings for a series of claims he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other state election officials on Jan. He is campaigning and fundraising around these themes, portraying himself as the victim of Democratic prosecutors out to get him. The Georgia case also stands out because, unlike the two federal prosecutions he faces, Trump would not have the opportunity to try to pardon himself if elected president.Īs indictments mount, Trump - the leading Republican candidate for president in 2024 - often invokes his distinction as the only former president to face criminal charges. Though the indictment is centered on Trump’s efforts to subvert election results in just one state, its sprawling web of defendants stands apart from the more tightly-targeted case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, which so far only names Trump as a defendant. Capitol have now, two-and-a-half years later, taken steps to hold Trump to account for an assault on the underpinnings of American democracy. It comes just two weeks after the Justice Department special counsel charged him in a vast conspiracy to overturn the election, underscoring how prosecutors after lengthy investigations that followed the Jan. The indictment bookends a remarkable crush of criminal cases - four in five months, each in a different city - that would be daunting for anyone, never mind a defendant simultaneously running for president. Other defendants included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who advanced his efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia. “Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” says the indictment issued Monday night by the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The indictment details dozens of acts by Trump and his allies to undo his defeat in the battleground state, including hectoring Georgia's Republican secretary of state to find enough votes to keep him power, pestering officials with bogus claims of voter fraud and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favorable to Trump. It’s the fourth criminal case to be brought against the former president and the second this month to allege that he tried to subvert the results of the vote. ATLANTA (AP) - Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia on Monday, accused of scheming to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |