Trump indictment updates: Former president, 18 others indicted in Georgia
Former President Trump has been indicted for a fourth time.
After a two-and-a-half-year probe, a Fulton County grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 others on charges related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
It marks the fourth indictment of the former president, who already faces federal charges in the special counsel's Jan. 6 and classified documents probes, as well as the Manhattan DA's hush money case. Prior to Trump, no former or current president had ever been indicted.
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Co-defendants worked in 'furtherance of the conspiracy,' indictment says
The indictment describes how several of the co-defendants, including Kenneth Chesebro, Michael Roman and James Shafer, worked together from Dec. 11, 2020. through Dec. 25, 2020, in several states including Georgia and Arizona, to commit acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
The alleged acts include Shafer reserving a room at the Georgia State Capitol in Fulton County, Georgia to gather "Trump presidential elector nominees," and Chesebro sending emails to Roman regarding Trump presidential elector nominees in other states.
The indictment also describes how the co-conspirators allegedly communicated with the Trump campaign about the Trump electors.
According to the indictment, Rowan instructed an individual associated with the Trump campaign to "distribute information related to the December 14, 2020 meetings of Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to other individuals associated with the campaign and co-conspirator 4."
On Dec. 13, 2020, Chesebro sent an email to Giuliani outlining the “multiple strategies for disrupting and delaying the joint session of congress on January 6, 2021,” the indictment says.
Defendants 'falsely accused' election worker, indictment says
The alleged enterprise "falsely accused" Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman of committing election crimes, the indictment says.
Members of the alleged enterprise traveled out of state "to harass Freeman, intimidate her, and solicit her to falsely confess to election crimes that she did not commit," it says.
Indictment spells out alleged 'false elector' scheme
The alleged enterprise, including "several" of the defendants, created "false Electoral College documents" and recruited individuals to cast "false Electoral College votes" at the Georgia State Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, and then transmitted those votes to the president of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. archivist, the Georgia secretary of state, and the chief federal judge in Atlanta, the indictment says.
"The false documents were intended to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, in order to unlawfully change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump,” says the indictment.
Indictment alleges 30 unindicted co-conspirators
In addition to the 19 defendants listed in the indictment, as many as 30 unindicted co-conspirators were involved in the criminal scheme, according to prosecutors.
"The Defendants, as well as others not named as defendants, unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere," the indictment says.
The indictment says "several" of the defendants made false statements to Georgia officials, including the secretary of state and Speaker of the House of Representatives, and "corruptly solicited [them] … to violate their oaths to the Georgia Constitution and to the United States Constitution by unlawfully changing the outcomes of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump."