Georgia charges Trump with racketeering and meddling in election

WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Donald Trump faced a new raft of felony charges on Tuesday after a Georgia grand jury used a law developed to take down organized crime gangs to charge the former U.S. president with trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The charges, brought late on Monday by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, charge Trump, the front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination and 18 associates for a scheme intended to reverse his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The sprawling 98-page indictment listed 19 defendants and 41 criminal counts in all. All the defendants were charged with racketeering, which is used to target members of organized crime groupsand carries a minimum penalty of 5 years in prison.

Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, and lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman were among those charged.

“Rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Willis said at a press conference just before midnight.

Reuters