This Indictment is One for the Ages

Yesterday the gigantic indictment of Trump by the Fulton County prosecutors dropped. Well, it dropped twice. The first time was midday, but it was immediately retracted. The County claimed it was a mistake. The second time was late in the day, after the grand jury session concluded. So was it an accident? It's more than possible. Was it an "accident" and someone in Fulton County leaked it on purpose - while the grand jury was still convened - to deliberately cause controversy and show that the fix was in? Who knows.

I'm just a jerk on the internet and am not a lawyer so take everything with at least a grain of salt, but it seems to me that whatever the motivation (if there was motivation at all), the indictment is an exercise in absurdity. The root of the entire thing is that Trump said he didn't think the election was legit. Trump claimed he won, which is criminal, and so he should be punished. He tried to get people onto his side, which is "soliciting false statements" or "solicitation of violation of oath by public officer." To question and to try to gain support for a position that goes against the narrative is now an indictable offense.

Many things in the indictment involve neither Georgia nor Fulton County. The justification for everything is that Georgia went to Biden (as did Fulton County), and therefore they have jurisdiction:

Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump. That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.

What was this vast criminal enterprise? It was working with lawyers, making public statements (including online), disagreeing with officials, etc. Here is the "the enterprise" for the RICO charge (most names removed for brevity):

Defendants Donald John Trump, ... and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, constituted a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in various related criminal activities including, but not limited to, false statements and writings, impersonating a public officer, forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, acts involving theft, and perjury.

On or about the 3rd day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, "Georgia hearings now on @OANN. Amazing!" This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

On or about the 3rd day of December 2020, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI, JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN, JENNA LYNN ELLIS, and RAY STALLINGS SMITH III committed the felony offense of SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER, in Violation of O.C.G.A. 16-4-7 & 16-10-1, in Fulton County, Georgia, by unlawfully soliciting, requesting, and importuning certain public officers then serving as elected members of the Georgia Senate and present at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee meeting, including unindicted co-conspirator Individual 8 ... to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, O.C.G.A. 16-10-1, by unlawfully appointing presidential electors from Georgia, in willful and intentional Violation of the terms of the oath of said persons as prescribed by law, with intent that said persons engage in said conduct. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

The man tweeted! He asked officials to send an alternate slate of electors! He called people in Georgia government to try to set up meetings! He even did these things in other states that don't love justice as much as Georgia! Trump and his lawyers had different interpretations of video than the State of Georgia did! They argued points of law about electors with officials! He might have been wrong about some stuff! He made a public case about his belief that the election had problems! CONSPIRACY!

This is one of the most patently absurd things I have ever read (full disclosure: I have not had time to read the whole thing yet, though I sincerely doubt that this matters). In essence, Fulton County is claiming that questioning an election's outcome, testifying about evidence in a way that conflicts with the state's interpretation of evidence, making a public case, working with your lawyers, etc. is a conspiracy and you need to be locked up and barred from public office over it.

This is straight-up banana republic stuff. This is a torturing of law through accumulation of vast amounts of irrelevant "evidence" - large amounts of which which are public statements and on-the-record proceedings - in an attempt to gin up the crime of the century. This is a nakedly political and utterly unjust abuse of power and, like always, nobody (except maybe Trump) will be punished for it. This is utter degradation of anything approaching "justice" and there's no end it sight.

How wide does this spread if Trump and his vast number of "co-conspirators" are convicted? As this is a RICO case, what are the consequences outside the named parties? Is anyone who donated to Trump's fund to contest the election in court now a wanted man in Georgia? After all, didn't they directly finance a criminal enterprise? Is anyone who wrote a letter pressuring their representatives to vote for an alternate slate of electors or refuse certification a wanted man in Georgia? After all, didn't they engage in "solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer?" Where does it end?

Read the indictment. It would be a hoot and a half if it came from some other country.

posted by Joe Mannix at 01:15 PM

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