Georgia shows the steal was stopped
Fulton County DA Fani Willis, center, speaks about the indictments on Monday. Credit: AP/John Bazemore
Donald Trump's fourth indictment Monday in Georgia — he now faces 91 state and federal charges — prompts more complaints from the former president of witch hunts, political persecution, and a denial of his free speech rights as he seeks to return to the White House.
Trump is presumed innocent and it is possible he may never be convicted of one single charge. These cases will play out in courtrooms over the next months and years. For now, Trump and his supporters are attacking these indictments most vigorously in the political arena. But amid the noise there is not yet a credible challenge to the underlying facts. Most of those who defended Georgia's election were Republicans, a reassurance that our decentralized elections system can protect the integrity of our democracy.
The Washington indictment by special counsel Jack Smith, which goes to the heart of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, is a federal election interference case narrowly focused on fraud, obstruction of justice, and deprivation of civil rights. By contrast, the sprawling Georgia state case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges specific state election laws were violated in a complex racketeering case. While Trump kept up the public drumbeat of rigged machines and stuffed ballot boxes after the election, he and his alleged co-conspirators were frantically trying to change the vote count in several states including Georgia, which Joe Biden narrowly won.
“I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes,” Trump pleaded on a Jan. 2, 2021 call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
As part of the alleged conspiracy, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows traveled to Cobb County and unsuccessfully demanded access to a guarded room where election workers were auditing returns. Another part of the scheme was to get co-conspirator Sidney Powell access to voting machines in rural Coffee County.
A key part of the conspiracy occurred in late December 2020, before the Raffensperger call. According to the indictment, Trump asked acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and acting Deputy Attorney General and Long Islander Richard Donoghue to make a false statement: “Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” They refused.
Trump was also communicating with Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clarke, another co-conspirator, to get Rosen and Donoghue to sign a false document claiming DOJ had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.” That didn't work, either.
Trump says he will produce next week "a CONCLUSIVE report" of election fraud in Georgia that will result in a "complete EXONERATION," a claim immediately rebuked by Georgia's GOP governor Brian Kemp.
The bluster will continue but the facts won't change. The most important take-away from the Georgia indictment: The real steal was stopped.
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