The August 14 indictment of Donald Trump and 18 “co-conspirators” by Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, uses the RICO statutes (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) to criminalize his challenging of the 2020 election and treat his aggressive response to the cheating he is convinced occurred as an organized crime ring.
This latest attempt to bring Donald Trump down is more dangerous than all of the many previous failed efforts to remove him from office, destroy him politically and personally, imprison him, or at a minimum, make him ineligible to become President ever again. Charging these 19 people with racketeering and an overarching conspiracy sets a dangerous precedent for how future contested elections will be responded to. We are witnessing the criminalizing of political enemies as a political strategy, something Americans thought would never happen here. The stakes have never been higher, and it has never been more important for us to pay attention to what is happening.
District Attorney Willis had 30 months to bring these charges. They have been strategically timed to interfere with Trump’s ability to fully engage in campaigning for the Presidency. Willis began investigating Trump in February 2021, after a phone call he made on January 2 to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During the call he told him he needed to “find” the votes he needed to prove he won Georgia. This statement has been twisted repeatedly as “evidence” Trump was advocating fraud. The obvious explanation is he had lost the state by fewer than 12,000 votes and was seeking leadership from the Secretary of State to find any fraud and miscounts that would put him over the top.
Jonathan Turley, Professor at George Washington University Law School, expressed concern that Willis “didn’t exercise any restraint” in this indictment and explained that it is highly unusual for a district attorney to pursue charges rather than defer to a federal indictment already in process. Jack Smith, Special Prosecutor in the federal indictment, had already covered the charges contained in the Willis indictment. The reasons she pressed on are obvious.
In charging Trump and others as a criminal racketeering enterprise, Willis has ensured that, if convicted, he will serve prison time. There is a minimum mandatory of 5-20 years for these charges. If convicted at the state level, the charges cannot be dismissed with a federal pardon and the Governor of Georgia does not have the authority to pardon either.
Before the Grand Jury deliberated on August 14, a copy of the indictment, complete with case number and list of charges, was found by Reuters on the Fulton County website. They reported it and published a picture of the website. It was quickly taken down. DA Willis called it “inaccurate”, and the Court Clerk called it “fictitious.” They are liars. When the indictment came down that evening, we learned the earlier posting had been entirely accurate. How did it get there?
In a press conference immediately following the issuing of charges, Willis was asked about the posting. Despite being responsible for the integrity of the indictment process, she claimed she has no knowledge of how the Clerk’s office works and washed her hands of the incident. When asked if she is collaborating with Jack Smith on the overlap between the federal and state charges, she refused to answer. Her refusal was the answer.
Willis made it clear she is going to try to bring Trump and his “co-conspirators” to trial as a group and within 6 months. Though this timeline is considered nearly impossible, she will do her part to keep him off the campaign trail.
On August 23, the candidates for the Republican nomination for President will debate for the first time. Bret Baier and Martha McCallum from FOX News will moderate. We are about to find out if their agenda is to provide voters the opportunity to learn about who the candidates are, what they think, and how they will govern, or if they are going to make it all about Trump, whether he is on the stage or not.
If the candidates want us to believe they have the courage and integrity to lead, they should unite in denouncing these political attacks on Trump. They should clearly denounce the weaponizing of our government and tell us what they will do about it as President. They must insist on using the debate to focus on themselves – what they bring to the table and why they would be the best voter choice. Any candidate who wastes our time by making the “debate” all about Donald Trump should be disqualified from serious consideration and sent packing.
Regardless of what each of us thinks of Trump’s policies or how he comports himself, the use of government agencies to neutralize a political adversary threatens our federalist system of government and our freedom. If we allow it, we will lose the power to choose our leaders through our votes. Throughout history, it has often taken a sinister threat to unite us. We must bring down the people who would destroy our country this way. Our voices and our votes are powerful. Let’s use them.
