Senator Hints At First Charges Against Trump: Georgia Is A ‘Ripe Area’

Thanks to an interim report from the Senate Judiciary Committee that was released this week, we now have a better idea exactly how former President Donald Trump and other members of his administration attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and keep Trump in office against the will of the American voters.

Specifically, the Washington Post notes, Trump did everything he could to remain in office:

The interim report by the Senate Judiciary Committee was issued Thursday. While Republicans on the panel offered their counter-findings, arguing that Trump did not subvert the justice system to remain in power, the majority report by the Democrats offers the most detailed account to date of the struggle inside the administration’s final, desperate days.

The report underscores the gaping political divide that has emerged in this country over one of the most basic functions of government — conducting free and fair elections. Democrats charge Trump nearly provoked a constitutional crisis, but for the steady hands of senior Justice Department officials; Republicans say Trump was “faithful” to his sworn duty as president in seeking assurances about voter integrity.

But according to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Judiciary Committee, the focus is now on Georgia, where Trump desperately tried to have state officials overturn the results and name him the victor.

Whitehouse was a guest on “Meet the Press,” and was asked by host Chuck Todd:

“At the end of the report, there is some talk about criminal referrals. What would be criminal in this case?”

Though he wouldn’t get into specifics, Sen. Whitehouse made it clear that the Justice Department will be particularly interested in Georgia:

“I don’t want to get into criminal referrals, we’re still in the interim level. But I would point to just the geographic fact that much of what took place at the Department of Justice being focused on Georgia. Being focused on sending letters to the Georgia legislature saying that they could open up in special session and redo the election with a separate slate, and the extent to which that interconnects with the DA’s investigation into Trump’s personal efforts to threaten officials in Georgia on the same question is, I think, a very ripe area for at least Georgia’s investigation and we’ll see what the Department of Justice wants to do with it.”

Of course, there’s no way of knowing if the DOJ will file criminal charges in the matter of Trump’s attempts to rig the election in his favor after the votes had been counted. But the interim report from the Judiciary Committee certainly suggests there’s plenty of evidence to support a full investigation and criminal charges if a case can be made.

While it’s long been assumed Trump is under the greatest legal jeopardy in New York, it could be Georgia that has the best proof of his most recent crimes and the danger they posed to our democratic process.