-Thank you for joining us.
I'm here with the prosecutors and investigators
who have worked diligently on the investigation of criminal
attempts to interfere in the administration
of Georgia's 2020 presidential election.
Today, based on information developed by that investigation,
a Fulton County grand jury
returned a true bill of indictment,
charging 19 individuals with violations of Georgia law
arising from a criminal conspiracy
to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election
in this state.
The indictment includes 41 felony counts
and is 97 pages long.
Please remember that everyone charged in this bill
of indictment is presumed innocent.
Specifically, the indictment brings felony charges
against Donald John Trump,
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani,
John Charles Eastman,
Mark Randall Meadows,
John Chesebro,
Jeffrey Clark,
Jenna Lynn Ellis,
Ray Stallings Smith III,
Robert David Cheeley,
Michael A. Roman,
David James Shafer,
Shawn Micah Tresher Still,
Stephen Cliffgard Lee,
Harrison William Prescott Floyd,
Trevian C. Kutti,
Sidney Katherine Powell,
Cathleen Alston Latham,
Scott Graham Hall,
and Misty Hampton,
also known as Emily Misty Hayes.
Every individual charged in the indictment
is charged with one count of violating Georgia's Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
through participation in a criminal enterprise
in Fulton County, Georgia,
and elsewhere to accomplish the illegal goal
of allowing Donald J. Trump
to seize the presidential term of office
beginning on January 20, '21.
Specifically, the participants in association
took various actions in Georgia and elsewhere
to block the counting of the votes
of the presidential electors who were certified
as the winners of Georgia's 2020 general election.
As you examine the indictment,
you will see acts that are identified as overt acts
and those that are identified as predicate acts,
sometimes called acts of racketeering activity.
Overt acts are not necessarily crimes
under Georgia law in isolation, but are alleged to be acts taken
in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Many occurred in Georgia
and some occurred in other jurisdictions
and are included because the grand jury
believes they were part of the illegal effort
to overturn the results
of Georgia's 2020 presidential election.
The acts identified as predicate acts
or acts of racketeering activity are crimes
that are alleged to have been committed
in furtherance of the criminal enterprise.
Acts of racketeering activity are also charged
as separate counts in the indictment
against those who are alleged to have committed them.
All elections in our nation are administered by the states,
which are given the responsibility
of ensuring a fair process
and an accurate counting of the votes.
That includes elections for presidential electors,
Congress, state officials, and local offices.
The state's role in this process
is essential to the functioning of our democracy.
Georgia, like every state, has laws that allow those
who believe that results of an election are wrong,
whether because of intentional wrongdoing
or unintentional error,
to challenge those results in our state courts.
The indictment alleges that rather than by -- abide
by Georgia's legal process for election challenges,
the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise
to overturn Georgia's presidential election result.
Subsequent to the indictment,
as is the normal process in Georgia law,
the grand jury issued arrest warrants
for those who are charged.
I am giving the defendants the opportunity
to voluntarily surrender no later than noon on Friday,
the 25th day of August 2023.
I'll remind everyone here that an indictment
is only a series of allegations based on a grand jury's
determination of probable cause to support the charges.
It is now the duty of my office
to prove these charges in the indictment
beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
I would like to take a moment
to thank the Superior Court clerk,
Ché Alexander, and her staff for staying late
and making sure that this indictment was processed.
I would also like to thank the men
and women of Sheriff Labat's office
for keeping the courthouse open, but most importantly,
for keeping us safe over the weeks and months
that have led up to this indictment
and for what I know they will continue to do to keep us safe.
We also want to thank the Atlanta Police Department
and other law enforcement partners
who have worked with the sheriff to keep us safe.
I will now take a very limited number of questions
prior to going to sleep.
[reporters speaking]
-Quick question -- Can you clarify in Georgia,
the mandatory minimum when it comes to RICO charges,
whether it's servable by probation
or how that might play out?
-The RICO charges has time that you have to serve.
So it is not a probated sentence.
-Madam District Attorney, What's the timetable?
-What is the timetable for the trial?
-Yes. -As you know, in this
jurisdiction, trials are set by the judges.
And so it will be the judge that sets the date of the trial.
This office will be submitting a proposed
scheduling order within this week.
However, that will totally be at the discretion of the judge.
-You're the fourth jurisdiction now to indict Donald Trump.
Do you want to be the fourth one to try him
or could you move it up?
Do you want to be the first to try him?
-I don't have any desire to be first or last.
I want to try him and be respectful
for our sovereign states.
We do want to move this case along.
And so we will be asking for a proposed order that occurs
a trial date within the next six months.
-Madam District Attorney, earlier today
there was a fictitious document,
according to the Fulton County clerk's office,
that was circulated online with charges
against former president Donald Trump.
Those -- That fictitious document matched exactly
the charges that we now see in this indictment.
Can you tell us more about that document leak?
Because now you have the former president's lawyers
who are saying that this is emblematic
of a serious problem with your office.
-No, I can't tell you anything about what you refer to.
What I can tell you is that we had a grand jury here
in Fulton County.
They deliberated till almost 8:00,
if not right after 8:00, an indictment was returned.
It was true bill and you now have an indictment.
I am not an expert on clerks' duties
or even administrative duties.
I wouldn't know how to work that system.
And so I'm not going to speculate. Next question.
-Have you had any contact with the special counsel
about overlap between these cases?
And do you intend to try all of these defendants together?
-Do I intend to try the 19 defendants
in this indictment together? Yes.
-And have you had any contact with the special counsel
about the overlap between this indictment and...
-I'm not going to discuss our investigation
at this time. I'm going to take --
-What do you make of the arguments made
by former president Trump that this is
a politically motivated indictment?
-I make decisions in this office
based on the facts and the law.
The law is completely nonpartisan.
That's how decisions are made in every case.
To date, this office has indicted,
since I've been sitting as the district attorney,
over 12,000 cases.
This is the 11th RICO indictment.
We followed the same process.
We look at the facts, we look at the law,
and we bring charges.
[reporters shouting]