Georgia District Attorney annoud
charges against former President
Donald Trump and eighteen other.
Now his codefendants are
criticizing prosecutors who are
accused them of racketeering to
overturn the 2020 election resu.
Nicole Killion reports from Atl,
where the accused have been told
you need to appear by the end
of next week, just
hours after Fulton County Distrt
Attorney* Willis announced
charges against former President
Donald Trump and eighteen otherr
their alleged efforts to overtun
the 2020 election in Georgia.
It is now the duty of my officeo
prove these charges in the indictment
beyond a reasonable doubt at tr,
Trump said in a social media po.
You'll hold a news conference next Monday
that will be a complete exonera,
and he repeated false claims
of election fraud in Georgia.
The state's Republican governor,
Brian Kemp, hit back.
2020 election in Georgia was not stolen
with 9 days left to turn themselves in.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office says
it expects the 19 indicted defendants,
including the former president,
to be booked at the Fulton County Jail.
Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,
who faces 13 counts for allegedly making
false statements about the 2020 election,
denies any wrongdoing and says
he plans to surrender soon.
I'll pick a day next week.
Try to workout the conditions of bail
because it has to be bail, I imagine.
On Tuesday, Trump's other Co
defendant and former chief of s,
Mark Meadows sought to move the
criminal charges against him frm
Fulton County to federal court.
His lawyers say they plan to fie
a motion to dismiss the case,
arguing nothing Mr.
Meadows is alleged in the
indictment to have done is crim.
Meadows was on this call with
Georgia Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger in January 2021.
Mr. President, everybody is on the line.
And just so, this is Mark
Meadows, the chief of staff,
during which Trump made this
statement. I just
want to find
11,780 votes, which is one moret
we have because we won the stat.
So that phone call to Georgia
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger,
as well as calls to Georgia's governor
and other lawmakers in the state
are the reasons why this indictt
is playing out in Fulton County.
Now Georgia State capital Atlana
actually spreads over 2 countie.
The state capitol building and offices for
government officials are in Fulton County,
but Atlanta boundaries are
also in DeKalb County now.
Trump even brought up Fulton Coy
in a phone call to Raffensperge.
He claimed that a couple 100,000 ballots
had been forged with signatures on them.
A hand recount of the Fulton
County ballots provided no evide
of that widespread forgery,
and Biden's victory was reaffir.
Now the charges against Trump ae
for violating Georgia's Rico ac.
It is a law commonly used
against organized crime.
Legal analyst Ricky Clayman explains how
prosecutors are using it in this case.
When we look at the Rico Act,
it originally was a federal act.
It goes back to around 1970,
and it was meant for the mob.
It was to put the mob out of business.
It's about a racketeering influ,
corrupt organizations.
So the mob was a corrupt organization,
then it got used in unions.
That was the also a way of doin,
looking at mob behavior
that had gone into unions.
And eventually there were prosecutors who
decided that this was a creative tool,
that if you could get a number of people
that you could see that they formed a group,
an enterprise,
that perhaps their activity coud
be considered an enterprise
of racketeering activity.
Fonny Willis,
this prosecutor,
is someone who likes using this statute.
She has used it before in the hiphop world.
She actually used it with a grof
teachers involved with a cheating scandal.
That would be the last group
I would think of.
But here she has looked and not
only taken lots of people where
we have 19 defendants,
she's looked at intent in Georg,
coming from intent also in other states.
Well, these are not the only chs
that the former president faces,
but these are the most recent of charges.
In New York State, prosecutors charged
Trump with falsifying business records
about hush money for a payoff ta
* actor before the 2016 electio.
That trial is set to begin in M.
In Florida, the Justice Department brought
more than three dozen felony co.
They accused him of illegally
possessing classified documents after
leaving the White House and then
concealing them from investigat.
That trial in Florida begins in,
and in Washington DC,
Trump was indicted on felony
charges for working to overturn
the results of the 2020 electio.
In the run up to the January
6th Capitol riot,
the Justice Department brought 4 felony
charges against him in that cas.
Now the legal challenges in
Georgia and New York,
they are in the state courts.
Brandon Lewis from our Verifiedm
answers your questions about whr
Trump could pardon himself in te
latest cases if he's reelected.
A Fulton County grand jury retud
a true bill of indictment. Geora
prosecutors indicted former President
Donald Trump on charges of conspiracy
and racketeering in connection o
attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
This is the former president's
second indictment in state cour,
and soon after the case was unsealed,
some people began searching online about
whether Trump could pardon himself in the
state cases if he's reelected as president.
So let's verify.
Our sources are the Georgia Stae
Board of Pardons and Paroles,
Georgia State Law,
the Georgia Justice Project,
the New York State Constitution,
and the New York Executive Clemency Bureau.
the US Constitution gives the president
broad power to issue pardons in
offenses against the United Sta,
which legal experts say only
refers to federal convictions.
And it's a legal Gray area where
presidents could pardon themsel.
When it comes to state charges,
each state has its own rules.
In Georgia,
the pardon process is overseen y
the Board of Pardons and Parole.
The five member board is appointed by the
governor but works as an independent agency.
The state requires convicts complete at
least five years of their sentence and
not have any pending charges agt
them before requesting A pardon.
The board then conducts an investigation
and then votes whether to grant a pardon.
In New York,
the governor has the sole authoy
to issue pardons.
She can also unilaterally grant
a commutation,
which reduces A person's sentene
if they've served at least halff
their minimum prison term and we
sentenced to more than a year in prison.
So,
no,
Trump cannot pardon himself in
state cases if he's reelected.
A conviction in the Georgia cas,
or really any other, though,
would not prevent Trump from pursuing
the White House or serving as president,
and he is a frontrunner for the
GOP presidential nomination.
Other Republicans vying for the nomination
include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,
former Vice President Mike Penc,
former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie,
former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley,
and US Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina,
the first Republican presidential debate.
It's scheduled for August the 2.
Sick with WF&amp;Y News 2 for continuing coverage
headed into the 2024 general election.
We'll be right back.