The Georgia indictment against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants cites Trump’s tweets as acts purportedly made “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
On Monday, a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury handed down a 98-page, 41-count indictment. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s nearly three-year-long investigation into Trump culminated on Monday when jurors met for approximately ten hours and then handed down the indictment.
Trump is being charged under Georgia’s RICO statute, among others, which is the same statute Willis used to bring charges against Atlanta rap star Young Thug. The RICO statute was designed to dismantle organized crime groups.
The indictment cites 12 of Trump’s tweets, and one from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as “overt” acts made “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
Some tweets were sent by Trump on January 6, 2021, while other posts encouraged people to watch public hearings about the allegations of voting irregularities.
The indictment also charges several defendants “with crimes merely for making statements that argued the 2020 election was stolen,” as Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak explained. “It claims that actions such as holding public hearings in Pennsylvania amounted to acts in furtherance of an illegal conspiracy.”
The indictment out of Georgia marks Trump’s fourth indictment in the past five months. Trump is facing two federal charges from Special Counsel Jack Smith based on his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his handling of White House documents. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg also brought over 30 counts of falsifying business records against Trump.
