Georgia RICO Case: Nineteen Defendants And Counting

[GreyhoundFan]

It seems there's going to be lots of extra chatter around the RICO case starring TFG and a motley cast. I figured it would be easier to keep track of discussion around this case in one thread instead of bouncing between the trump and 2020 threads.

 

Fani is sending a strong message to the idiot defendants who think they're going to out maneuver her:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Mark was afraid daddy would yell at him. You couldn't make this up.

 

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

"What I didn't want to happen was the CAMPAIGN....."

So doesn't this help prove he was acting a member of the Trump campaign and not in his federal capacity?

 

ugh these people.

I don't know if I'm a horrible person but each one of these proud boys crying at their sentencing just makes me feel happier. Because for some reason we have mass hysteria in trump world that all these inexcusable things are not only OK but good and necessary. We need the next wave of violent idiots to realize that maybe, just maybe, committing crimes in the name of your dear leader is not going to work out well for you. God I'm so disappointed in these people.

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

"What I didn't want to happen was the CAMPAIGN....."

So doesn't this help prove he was acting a member of the Trump campaign and not in his federal capacity?

 

ugh these people.

I don't know if I'm a horrible person but each one of these proud boys crying at their sentencing just makes me feel happier. Because for some reason we have mass hysteria in trump world that all these inexcusable things are not only OK but good and necessary. We need the next wave of violent idiots to realize that maybe, just maybe, committing crimes in the name of your dear leader is not going to work out well for you. God I'm so disappointed in these people.

Sounds like there are Trump's guys with tears in their eyes, like the people who are always coming up to talk to him but these guys are real.

[fraurosena]

To be fair to Meadows, I really do believe that an out of control Trump tantrum is something to be feared.

He throws ketchup. Do you know how difficult it is to get those stains out of your clothes?

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

Haha....I dunno trump may be scary but maybe just leave the room before you commit treason. Just sayin'

[onekidanddone]

23 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Mark was afraid daddy would yell at him. You couldn't make this up.

 

And these are the people who think they are going to own the libs. 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

No severance of Chesbro and Kraken cases... so why does Meadows think his case will be?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

17 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

No severance of Chesbro and Kraken cases... so why does Meadows think his case will be?

Because Marky thinks he's extra-special.

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

"Georgia prosecutor accuses Jim Jordan of trying to ‘obstruct’ Trump case"

Quote

ATLANTA — The Atlanta-area prosecutor who has brought criminal charges against former president Donald Trump issued a scathing letter Thursday to the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, accusing him of trying to obstruct her office’s criminal racketeering case against Trump and 18 allies.

In the letter, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis accused Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) of “an unjustified and illegal intrusion into an open state criminal prosecution” with his own recent letter demanding records related to the investigation and indictment of Trump and his allies on charges, alleging that they illegally plotted to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.

“Your attempt to invoke congressional authority to intrude upon and interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia is flagrantly at odds with the Constitution,” Willis wrote in the nine-page letter, which accuses Jordan of lacking a “basic understanding of the law,” including the law regarding state sovereignty.

“Your public statements and your letter itself make clear that you lack any legitimate legislative purpose for that inquiry,” Willis added. “Your job description as a legislator does not include criminal law enforcement, nor does it include supervising a specific criminal trial because you believe that doing so will promote your partisan political objectives.”

In the letter, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis accused Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) of “an unjustified and illegal intrusion into an open state criminal prosecution” with his own recent letter demanding records related to the investigation and indictment of Trump and his allies on charges, alleging that they illegally plotted to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.

“Your attempt to invoke congressional authority to intrude upon and interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia is flagrantly at odds with the Constitution,” Willis wrote in the nine-page letter, which accuses Jordan of lacking a “basic understanding of the law,” including the law regarding state sovereignty.

“Your public statements and your letter itself make clear that you lack any legitimate legislative purpose for that inquiry,” Willis added. “Your job description as a legislator does not include criminal law enforcement, nor does it include supervising a specific criminal trial because you believe that doing so will promote your partisan political objectives.”

Jordan sent a similar demand this year to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office indicted Trump on charges he falsified business records in connection with alleged hush money payments to an adult-film actress.

In her response, Willis called Jordan’s letter “unconstitutional” and “offensive.”

“Its obvious purpose is to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations,” Willis wrote. “There is no justification in the Constitution for Congress to interfere with a state criminal matter, as you attempt to do.

“The defendants in this case have been charged under state law with committing state crimes. There is absolutely no support for Congress purporting to second guess or somehow supervise an ongoing Georgia criminal investigation and prosecution,” Willis added.

Willis suggested that Jordan’s questions about how she had prosecuted the case “shows a total ignorance of Georgia’s racketeering statute and the basics of criminal conspiracy law.”

“I encourage you to read ‘RICO State-by-State,’ Willis wrote, referring to a book by John Floyd, a special prosecutor on the 2020 election case. “As a non-member of the bar, you can purchase a copy for two hundred forty-nine dollars [$249].”

The back-and-forth came amid continued legal wrangling over how and when Trump and his 18 co-defendants will be tried in the sprawling racketeering case. On Wednesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set an Oct. 23 trial date for two people charged in the case: former Trump campaign attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, who invoked their rights to a speedy trial.

Willis and her team are still seeking to try all 19 defendants together beginning next month. McAfee, who has appeared openly skeptical of that proposal, gave prosecutors until Tuesday to file a brief making their case for a joint trial to begin next month. Prosecutors have estimated a four-month trial, not including jury selection, that will include testimony from more than 150 witnesses.

Five Trump associates charged in the conspiracy are seeking to move their cases to federal court, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. On Thursday, Steve Sadow, an attorney for Trump, filed notice in state court that the former president “may” seek to move his case to federal court as well — a decision that he suggested would be made in coming weeks.

In her letter to Jordan, Willis suggested that “the safety of persons serving in the criminal justice system” should instead be the priority of the House Judiciary Committee. She included pages of racist and threatening emails, letters and social media messages that she and her office had received since last month’s indictments — including one that referred to her as a “dead black monkey” and “n----- trash.”

Willis also included a copy of an Aug. 31 arrest warrant issued in Fulton County Superior Court for a man who repeatedly sent threatening emails to her. According to an affidavit, the man repeatedly used racial slurs — including the n-word — in reference to Willis.

“I am providing these examples to give you a window into what has happened to my staff and me as I keep my oath to the United States and Georgia Constitutions and do not allow myself to be bullied and threatened by members of Congress, local elected officials or others,” Willis wrote.

 

[Xan]

That letter from Fani Willis to Jim Jordan was a thing of beauty.  My favorite part was when she suggested he buy the book about RICO since he wasn't a member of the bar.  Jordan never passed the bar.  He says he didn't take the exam but we only know that he didn't pass it.  It's about time that someone stood up and told these Trump sycophants where they can stick their demands.

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

It's interesting to see the article talking about the proud boy leader who turned down a plea deal for 1/2 the time he has gotten now. Is he regretting that now? Is he assuming he'll get a pardon? 10-12 years is a lotta time but you still have some life to lead but 22 years is most your life, you're not coming back out and approximately resuming your life.

Are these RICO people thinking about that? Are they assuming Trump will win presidency and pardon them so it's worth waiting it out? Do they not realize Trump can't pardon them in the GA case? Surely their lawyers have discussed this.

Are they afraid to do plea deals because Trump will turn against them publicly? Which is sort of a scary position to be in - Trump's mob wanted to hang the vice president and has been threatening judges and others ever since. 

I can't believe any of these people genuinely feel they are innocent. Especially the lawyers. I watched some michigan fake elector interview from 2020 today where she was openly talking about working with Trump's lawyers to put in the fake electors. And then in 2023 she conveniently doesn't remember any details, despite being very clear in her 2020 interview.

I haven't had much trust in people for a long time. But the number of people just openly lying 2-3 years later after basically bragging about their well documented roles in illegal activities is shocking. The brazenness and arrogance is next level.

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Judge denies Mark Meadows effort to move Georgia case to federal court"

Quote

A federal judge denied a request Friday from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to move the Georgia election-interference case against him from state to federal court, a shift he had sought on the grounds that he was a federal officer at the time of the actions that led to his indictment.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones in the Atlanta-based Northern District of Georgia represents a setback for Meadows, who had asked for removal under a federal law that allows people charged with crimes while carrying out their official duties to be prosecuted in federal court, even in cases involving state law and state prosecutors.

Meadows had hoped a move to federal court could lead to a quick dismissal of the case against him because he had argued to Jones that as a federal officer, he is immune from prosecution for acts taken in the course of his normal work.

Instead, Jones found that the actions “at the heart of the State’s charges against Meadows were taken on behalf of the Trump campaign with the ultimate goal of affecting state election activities and procedures.” He added: “Meadows himself testified that working for the Trump campaign would be outside the scope of a White House Chief of Staff.”

The sweeping indictment filed last month in Fulton County, Ga., alleges former president Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, including Meadows, operated a vast criminal enterprise for the purpose of illegally reversing Trump’s defeat against Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

The Meadows decision was the first major ruling in the Georgia case, which will feature a regular rotation of appearances by the defendants in state and federal courtrooms to litigate pretrial issues in the coming weeks — a reminder of the case’s complexity and the potential for delays before it can be heard, ultimately, by a jury.

Jones’s decision is also not good news for four other co-defendants who have sought to move their cases to federal court. Jones said during Meadows’s Aug. 28 hearing that he expected his ruling to serve as precedent for other cases. While Trump has not sought removal, his lawyers indicated in a Superior Court filing on Thursday that he “may do so.” The decision would appear to bode poorly for him, too, if he chooses to seek removal.

In the ruling, Jones made a reference to Trump’s now-famous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), seeking to “find” enough voters to reverse Trump’s defeat in the state. He said the call “was made regarding private litigation” brought by Trump and his campaign, and therefore outside of Meadows’s — and presumably Trump’s — federal role.

Jones’s ruling represents a victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis, who will retain her home-field advantage by keeping the case in Fulton County Superior Court, where she knows the judges and where the trial will be governed by familiar state, not federal, procedures.

Had Meadows prevailed, Jones’s next step would have been to consider his request to dismiss the case outright under a legal principle similar to the one he used to argue for removal — that he is immune from prosecution because he was acting as a federal officer.

Now, Meadows’s case will proceed in Fulton County Superior Court with no opportunity to make that argument — though he has the option to appeal the decision to the 11th Circuit, a notably conservative court that could view the issue differently from Jones, whom Barack Obama appointed to the bench. Ultimately, Meadows could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue.

At the heart of the federal removal question is whether Meadows’s actions that led to criminal charges were taken within the scope of his duties as a federal officer. Jones ruled that while some of Meadows’s actions that were described in the indictment met that standard — such as managing the president’s schedule and attending meetings — others did not, including the broader charge that he participated in a racketeering conspiracy to overturn the election.

“As a senior official in the executive branch, Meadows cannot have acted in his role as a federal officer with respect to any efforts to influence, interfere with, disrupt, oversee, or change state elections,” Jones wrote. “Those activities are expressly delegated to the States.”

Jones also appeared troubled by portions of Meadows’s testimony, during which he “was unable to explain the limits of his authority.” The federal Hatch Act, Jones wrote, prohibits an employee from using his official authority or influence to affect the outcome of an election. While Meadows has not been charged with a Hatch Act violation, Jones wrote that working with or for the Trump campaign — beyond scheduling and travel — “exceeds the outer limits of the Office of the White House chief of staff.”

“Even if Meadows took on tasks that mirror the duties that he carried out when acting in his official role as White House Chief of Staff (such as attending meetings, scheduling phone calls, and managing the President’s time), he has failed to demonstrate how the election-related activities that serve as the basis for the charges in the Indictment are related to any of his official acts,” Jones wrote.

The Georgia case is the fourth criminal indictment against Trump this year. Special counsel Jack Smith has brought two federal cases against him, one in Washington alleging election interference and the other in Miami alleging he mishandled classified documents after he left the White House. Trump is also charged in New York with falsifying business records in connection to hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. A federal judge previously rejected Trump’s attempt to move that case from state to federal court.

Trump argued he reimbursed lawyer Michael Cohen for making the payments to Daniels after he took office to protect his presidency and thus was acting as a federal official. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein found that the charges pertained to Trump’s personal life and did not involve his official duties as president.

The four defendants in the Georgia case who have also sought to move their cases to federal court are former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, former Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer, Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still (R) and Cathy Latham, the former GOP chair for Coffee County and a member of the Georgia Republican Party’s executive committee. Shafer, Still and Latham served as pro-Trump electors in 2020, and Latham was also charged for her alleged role in allowing outsiders to copy the hard drives of sensitive election equipment in Coffee County.

The 98-page indictment sought by Willis describes a series of acts Meadows took in the weeks after Trump lost the presidential election, including meeting with state lawmakers in Michigan and Pennsylvania and visiting a Georgia site where signatures on absentee ballots were being verified. It alleges those efforts were part of what Willis has charged was an illegal racketeering conspiracy to overturn the results.

The indictment alleges that Meadows also illegally solicited a public official to violate his oath by joining Trump on the Raffensperger call.

At an Aug. 28 hearing, Jones appeared skeptical of Meadows’s claim that he was simply “trying to land the plane” — participating in meetings and phone calls at which Trump and others discussed how to reverse his Georgia defeat primarily to keep Trump on schedule.

At the same hearing, prosecutors noted that in an email to Trump campaign aide Jason Miller, Meadows said, “We just need to have someone coordinating the electors for states.” They also showed how Meadows referred to “we” during the Raffensperger call. Meadows testified that he was using the word “we” too loosely and he meant the campaign, not including himself.

At one point, Jones pressed Meadows’s lead attorney, George J. Terwilliger III, about whether he believed there to be any “limitation” to what his client was allowed to do in his job as Trump’s chief of staff. Terwilliger essentially said no, describing Meadows as an “alter ego” of Trump who was consistently acting as a “federal authority” of the executive branch.

That claim quickly drew a rebuke from Donald Wakeford, an assistant Fulton County district attorney, who said the Hatch Act makes clear there is a limitation — by expressly prohibiting government officials from using their roles to influence an election. Wakeford said Meadows saw “no distinction” between his White House work and the Trump campaign.

One factor that federal removal does not change is the eligibility of defendants for a federal pardon. Because the case would be tried under Georgia statutes, not federal ones, Georgia would retain jurisdiction of the possibility of a pardon, several legal experts said. And in Georgia, that power rests with an appointed board, not the governor. So even if Trump is reelected in 2024, he would not have the power to pardon the Georgia defendants.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Georgia special grand jury recommended charging Lindsey Graham in Trump case"

Quote

ATLANTA — An Atlanta-area special grand jury that spent months investigating alleged 2020 election interference in Georgia by Donald Trump and his allies agreed that the former president should be indicted in the case and also recommended charging one of Trump’s closest associates, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), and 37 other people — a far larger group than a prosecutor ultimately charged.

The recommendations were contained in a 26-page final report presented in January to Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) and made public by a judge Friday. The report by the special grand jury, which was an investigative body and did not have the power to issue criminal indictments, largely echoed Willis’s theory of the case, recommending charges for Trump and numerous others and alleging a sweeping criminal conspiracy to subvert Joe Biden’s legitimate election win in Georgia.

A judge published the report at the request of the special grand jury, which cited a Georgia law that allows its recommendations to be made public. The document offered some rare insight into parts of an investigation typically marked by secrecy — not just on those who were indicted but also those who weren’t. But the report, which is not legally binding, does not include the evidence or reasoning behind the grand jury’s thinking, though testimony transcripts and evidence are likely to emerge as part of the criminal proceedings against those who were ultimately charged in the case.

The report’s release comes three weeks after a regular grand jury indicted Trump and 18 allies on multiple charges including racketeering, alleging that they illegally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia — a case built heavily upon evidence and testimony gathered by the special grand jury.

But the special grand jury’s recommendations went beyond the charges Willis and her team ultimately pursued, suggesting that 20 other people be criminally charged in the matter, including Graham, Trump campaign attorneys Cleta Mitchell and Boris Epshteyn, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, pro-Trump attorney L. Lin Wood, and former senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both Republicans from Georgia.

A spokesman for Graham did not respond to a request for comment, but the senator, speaking to reporters in South Carolina, denied any wrongdoing and called the grand jury recommendation “troubling for the country.”

“To suggest I’m part of some grand scheme to overturn the election makes no sense,” Graham said. “… I think there’s an effort in this country to weaponize the law. And we should all be worried because you’re opening Pandora’s box here.”

In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Loeffler said she would make “no apologies” for her post-election efforts in 2020. “Trying to jail your party’s leading political opponent ahead of 2024 is election interference,” she said. “Speaking out in defense of election integrity is not.”

Epshteyn declined to comment. Mitchell did not respond to texts seeking comment. A lawyer for Perdue did not respond to an email requesting comment.

Wood, reached by telephone, said he had nothing to do with efforts to overturn the election. “I did not sign, file or draft or have anything to do with any of those lawsuits,” he said.

Wood said it was unfair for a report recommending his indictment to become public.

“I was not indicted,” he said. “I have no idea what they say I should have been indicted for. I think it’s a smear, but it is what it is.”

Jesse Binnall, an attorney for Flynn, also criticized the report, describing it as a “baseless witch hunt” that “isn’t based on fact, or the law or reality.”

“Today’s report reveals even more corruption by a politically-motivated prosecutor with one goal: to take down President Trump, his associates, and interfere in the 2024 election,” Binnall said in a statement.

A spokesman for Willis declined to comment.

Graham was among the 75 witnesses summoned to appear before the special grand jury last year as prosecutors scrutinized phone calls that the South Carolina Republican made to Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, in the weeks after the 2020 election, as well as other issues related to the election.

Graham’s calls to Raffensperger came weeks before Trump’s infamous January 2021 phone call, in which the then-president pressed Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in the state, where Biden claimed victory by fewer than 12,000 votes.

Raffensperger later told The Washington Post that he felt pressured by other Republicans, including Graham, who he said echoed Trump’s claims about voting irregularities in the state. He said that Graham, on one call, appeared to be asking him to find a way to set aside legally cast ballots.

Graham and his attorneys have strongly rejected that characterization, describing the senator’s interactions with Raffensperger as “investigatory phone calls” that were meant to inform his decision-making on whether to vote to certify the election for Biden and to inform other Senate work.

Graham later challenged his subpoena to appear before the special grand jury — a fight that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. He ultimately appeared before the panel last November, an appearance he described Friday as a “very respectful two-hour conversation … where I told them what I did and why.” Graham told reporters he has had no further contact with Fulton County prosecutors.

According to the report, the special grand jury recommended that Graham be charged as part of the “national effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, focused on efforts in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia” in violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering statute. According to the report, the vote on Graham was not unanimous: 13 jurors voted to indict, seven voted no, and one abstained.

The special grand jury also recommended an indictment for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for his alleged role in the “national effort” to overturn the vote. But the panel did not suggest a charge for his role in the phone call between Trump and Raffensperger — which prosecutors ultimately did charge as part of last month’s expansive indictment, alleging that Meadows illegally solicited a public official to violate his oath of office.

According to the report, a majority of the special grand jury recommended charges for Trump in three areas: the call with Raffensperger, calls to “multiple Georgia officials and employees” and the “national effort” to overturn the election results. But vote tallies listed in the report show that the jury was not unanimous. In each of the three votes, one juror voted “no” on charges against Trump based on evidence presented by prosecutors.

Jurors were also split on racketeering charges against Perdue and Loeffler, who joined Trump in questioning the legitimacy of Georgia’s election results but were not ultimately indicted. Four jurors voted against the charge for Perdue, and six voted no on Loeffler. In a footnote, one of the dissenting jurors says of their vote against RICO charges that the senators’ post-election statements, “while pandering to their political base, do not give rise to their being guilty of a criminal conspiracy.”

The grand jury also suggested charges for several Georgia Republicans who served as alternate electors for Trump and signed documents falsely claiming he had won the election in Georgia — though many were later granted immunity in the case.

The special-purpose grand jury spent roughly seven months last year hearing from witnesses and gathering evidence as part of Willis’s investigation of efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.

The investigative body of 23 jurors and three alternates, picked from a pool of residents of Atlanta and its suburbs, was given full subpoena power for documents and the ability to call witnesses — which Willis said she needed to compel testimony from those reluctant to speak to her office about the case.

From June to December, the panel heard from a parade of prominent Republicans including Graham, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, along with dozens of other witnesses — among them some who had not previously given public testimony on what they knew about Trump’s efforts to reverse Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.

Under Georgia law, the special grand jury could not issue indictments, only charging recommendations to Willis. Her office used evidence gathered by the special grand jury to present its case last month to a regular grand jury, which had the power to issue criminal indictments and charged Trump and 18 others.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury, previously ordered a partial release of the report in February, including a section where jurors suggested that some unnamed witnesses may have committed perjury. But McBurney kept most of its recommendations sealed to protect the due-process rights of “potential future defendants” as Willis and her office considered whether to file charges in the case.

Last month, after the indictments, McBurney ordered the full release of the report, which included a roster of laws that the special grand jury believed had been broken and a list of who they believed should be charged, along with tallies on how jurors voted.

McBurney set a deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday for anyone who believed that the report should not be made public to file an objection to its release. In an order authorizing the report’s release Friday, McBurney said no one had “lodged” an objection.

Georgia law requires regular grand jurors to list their names on criminal indictments — a disclosure that led to threats and doxing of the jurors who indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants last month. But that law does not apply to members of special grand juries, who are not named on the report and may never be publicly identified, unless they choose to speak publicly.

In February, Emily Kohrs, the special grand jury forewoman, spoke to reporters after her name was listed on a subpoena in the case. But others have declined to be publicly identified by name speaking about their experience last year.

Kohrs’s public comments about the special grand jury investigation prompted a failed effort by Trump’s attorneys to block testimony and evidence gathered by the panel from being used to prosecute the former president even before charges were filed. Since the indictment, some of the former president’s co-defendants have also questioned the special grand jury process and filed motions to get access to the grand jury report and witness testimony.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case, has set an Oct. 23 trial date for at least two of those charged: former Trump campaign attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell. Willis and her team are seeking to jointly try all 19 defendants beginning next month. McAfee has indicated he will issue a ruling next week.

In the report’s conclusion — which was made public in February — the special grand jurors emphasized that their findings came directly from them. They wrote that the district attorney’s office “had nothing to do with the recommendations contained herein” and noted that the jury did not include any “election law experts or criminal lawyers.”

“The majority of this grand jury used their collective best efforts, however, to attend every session, listen to every witness and attempt to understand the facts as presented and the laws as explained,” the jurors wrote.

In an addendum, the jurors pointedly noted that the panel unanimously agreed that Georgia’s 2020 presidential vote had not been marred by “widespread fraud,” contrary to what Trump and many of his allies have claimed.

 

 

And Lindsey is still sucking up:

 

[AnywhereButHere]

To me, this does a lot of the prosecution’s job for them. If the judge ruled that the case can’t move to federal court, then it means he wasn’t acting in a federal capacity. Boom. Case closed. 🤷‍♀️

[Xan]

I think I can guess what Trump has on him but I won't speculate.  Let's just say that it's bad enough that Lindsey isn't taking any chances on Donald ratting him out.

[fraurosena]

Clutching at straws.

https://x.com/annabower/status/1701705295389721063?s=46&t=7O1wybM-4H6EjOmNEULL4A
 

Sorry, embedding is not working anymore so here’s a copy of the text and link:

Just in: Ken Chesebro moves to dismiss his criminal charges in Fulton County. He argues that his conduct was justified because he undertook the alleged actions while "fulfilling his duties to a client as an attorney."

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23972733-23sc188947-motion-13-chesebro-mtd

 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by fraurosena

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

oh ok great. so you can commit crimes as long as you're helping your client? Makes sense.

[zeebaneighba]

20 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Clutching at straws.

https://x.com/annabower/status/1701705295389721063?s=46&t=7O1wybM-4H6EjOmNEULL4A
 

Sorry, embedding is not working anymore so here’s a copy of the text and link:

Just in: Ken Chesebro moves to dismiss his criminal charges in Fulton County. He argues that his conduct was justified because he undertook the alleged actions while "fulfilling his duties to a client as an attorney."

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23972733-23sc188947-motion-13-chesebro-mtd

 

 

That's not how it works, Kenny.

[GreyhoundFan]

Another one is throwing TFG under the bus. Good. 

[Audrey2]

8 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Another one is throwing TFG under the bus. Good. 

The ones that I wonder about and shake my head are the ones who still believe Trump so strongly that they're willing to go to prison for him.

[fraurosena]

Uh-oh...

 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://apple.news/AR3eyL5MEQ36yNJdWDMvUZw

Fani Willis named a surprise witness. Guess this is a reason he wasn’t charged in the indictment!

 

Quote

When the Georgia special grand jury’s full report was released earlier this month, it memorably listed the names of a bunch of notable people who were recommended for indictment but ultimately weren’t charged by the regular grand jury. It wasn’t clear what accounted for the discrepancy between the special grand jury’s recommendation and the (still-sprawling) 19-defendant racketeering indictment returned by the regular grand jury last month.

But we just got a pretty big clue about why one person was on the special grand jury’s list but hasn’t been indicted: Lin Wood.

The MAGA lawyer — who retired from law practice in the face of professional discipline after working to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss — is a “witness for the State,” according to a new filing from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday.

What led the prosecution to reveal this intriguing fact?

It came in a notice to the court about potential conflicts of interest for several attorneys representing defendants in the 2020 election interference case. One of the lawyers is Harry MacDougald, who represents Jeffrey Clark (who’s currently trying to move his state charges to federal court). Willis’ notice pointed out, among other things, that MacDougald previously represented and was co-counsel to Wood in a failed 2020 election-related petition at the Supreme Court.

“Mr. MacDougald’s former clients and co-counsel would be subject to cross-examination by him were he to remain counsel of record in this case,” Georgia prosecutors wrote. They also noted that MacDougald, along with Wood and Sidney Powell (who’s also charged and is set for trial next month alongside co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro), had represented a group of people in another 2020 election case. The group includes current state witnesses as well as Cathleen Latham, who’s charged in the indictment as well.