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Crime Donald Trump Elections

Georgia DA’s Investigation Of 2020 Election Fraud Has Expanded To ‘Several Other’ States

An investigation launched by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis has now expanded to “several other” states, according to a new report from the Washington Post.

An Atlanta-area investigation of alleged election interference by former president Donald Trump and his allies has broadened to include activities in Washington, D.C., and several other states, according to two people with knowledge of the probe — a fresh sign that prosecutors may be building a sprawling case under Georgia’s racketeering laws.

Specifically, Willis is now looking at two companies the 2020 Trump campaign hired to look for voter fraud. When they came back with no proof of fraud, the results were deep sixed.

Since the firms searched for fraud in multiple states, Willis is now gathering evidence in those locations, too, the Post adds.

In recent days, Willis has sought information related to the Trump campaign hiring two firms to find voter fraud across the United States and then burying their findings when they did not find it, allegations that reach beyond Georgia’s borders, said the two individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the investigation. At least one of the firms has been subpoenaed by Fulton County investigators.

Georgia’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute is among the most inclusive in the country and allows prosecutors to build criminal cases for violations of both state and federal law. It also includes penalties of up to 20 years in state prison for those found guilty under the law.

“Georgia’s RICO statute is basically two specified criminal acts that have to be part of a pattern of behavior done with the same intent or to achieve a common result or that have distinguishing characteristics,” said John Malcolm, a former Atlanta-based federal prosecutor who is now a constitutional scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “That’s it. It’s very broad. That doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to charge a former president, but that also doesn’t mean she can’t do it or won’t do it.”

The Trump campaign spent over $1 million to hire the firms in question. The companies, Simpatico Software Systems and Berkeley Research Group, were unable to find any proof that the disgraced ex-president won the 2020 election. He contested election results in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The ex-president is also facing legal jeopardy in his home state of New York and from the Justice Department for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House and storing them at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Elections

Letter From Georgia DA Seems To Indicate When She’ll Announce Donald Trump’s Indictment

A letter submitted by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis to government officials seems to indicate that she will announce the indictment of failed one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump in August for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election in the Peach State.

The Atlanta Journal- Constitution reports the letter, sent to  Fulton Superior Court’s chief judge Ural Glanville, informs the judge that a larger portion of the DA’s staff will be working remotely during a three-week period that ends on August 18.

“This remote work will reduce the number of Fulton County District Attorney’s office staff in the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center by approximately 70 percent,” Willis writes.

Those dates also coincide with when the grand jury investigating Trump and some of his associates plans to convene and begin its deliberations.

The Journal-Constitution also notes:

In the letter, which was first reported by The New York Times, Willis also requested that Fulton judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings during the weeks of Aug. 7 and Aug. 14. The letter is yet another strong signal that Willis is planning to seek charges against major players who aggressively questioned Georgia’s 2020 election results, including Trump.

The most damning evidence against Trump is a phone call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he urged the elections chief to “find” over 11,000 votes for him so he could declare himself the winner in the state.

The disgraced former president has already been indicted in Manhattan on charges of falsifying business records and is under investigation by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House and storing them at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Elections

Legal Expert: Trump Provided Proof Of ‘Criminal Intent’ For Georgia Prosecutor At Town Hall

Amidst all of the other crazy things he said at Wednesday evening’s CNN town hall, failed former president Donald Trump also gave Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis new evidence she can use against the ex-president as she considers whether or not to indict him for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Legal analyst and Brookings Governance senior fellow Norm Eisen was a guest on CNN’s “News Central” Friday, and he told host host Jim Scuitto that Trump provided proof of his “criminal intent.”

During the town hall, moderator Kaitlan Collins asked Trump, “Given the fact that there are indictments expected to come in that case this summer — is that a call you would make again today?”

The indicted former president replied, “Yeah, I called questioning the election. I thought it was a rigged election. I thought it had a lot of problems. Listen to this: There are like seven lawyers on the call…we’re having a normal call, nobody said, ‘Oh, gee, he shouldn’t have said that.'”

Collins fact-checked Trump, noting, “You asked him to find the votes.”

That led Trump to begin shouting: “I didn’t ask him to find anything! I said you owe me votes because the election was rigged!”

Eisen was asked by Sciutto, “Tell me how that impacts the investigation in Georgia.”

The attorney and ethics expert replied, “It’s the most important kind of proof for a prosecutor, Jim. Intent proof. Whatever he believed, once the election had been certified, he can’t demand that the Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger just find 11,780 votes. It’s vigilante justice. Think of it this way: If I believed the bank owed me $11, 780, and I went in there and threatened the teller, ‘Give me my $11,780’ — even if I believe it belongs to me — you can’t do that, and you can’t do that in an election.”

Sciutto: “You can’t say ‘You owe me that money;’ you can’t say, ‘You owe me those votes.'”

Willis is expected to announce whether she will indict Trump sometime this summer.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Elections

Georgia DA Hints She May Be Getting Closer To Filing Election Fraud Charges Against Trump

For those of you playing indictment bingo at home as we all wait to see where failed one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump will be hit with criminal charges next, you may want get ready to cover the space on your card that reads GEORGIA.

Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney is hinting that she may be filing charges against the disgraced ex-president in the near future for crimes connected to his efforts to overturn election results in the Peach State in 2020.

Willis told WABE that she isn’t ready to announce charges just yet, but she also didn’t deny there would be indictments against the former president.

“I haven’t made any decisions regarding charging, at all, at least none that I’m willing to make public at this time.”

Willis has already made it clear she won’t make a formal announcement until summer.

“No matter what decision I make in that case, emotions are going to be high, and people may want to do things that would be harmful,” Willis said. “I always tell my staff if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.”

The Fulton County DA also noted that she was aware Trump is already facing a trial later this year in Manhattan.

“Well, certainly the citizens that elected the D.A. in Fulton have a district attorney that pays attention, so let’s just say I paid attention.”

Later in the interview, Willis remarked, “I do understand that the country is interested in this. It’s always been interesting to me, like how much the country is paying attention. But for me, everyone is entitled to dignity. Everyone is entitled to being treated fairly. So we want to make sure that we don’t do anything differently in this case than we would in others.”

 

Categories
Elections Fox News

Fox News Hosts Are Terrified They’re Next To Get The Ax: Report

These are tense times for many at Fox News, especially since the network fired its highest-rated primetime host, Tucker Carlson, on Monday in the aftermath of the Dominion defamation settlement which cost the network $787.5 million, a hefty sum, even for the deep pockets of the Murdoch family. And there’s another, even larger lawsuit from Smartmatic on the horizon.

Other on-air hosts are terrified they’ll be the next to get the pink slip, according to an article from Rolling Stone, and the names most often mentioned are the hosts who told the most lies on their programs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro.

Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, two longtime hosts and Donald Trump allies, have told friends they’re concerned they could be sacked next, according to two sources familiar with the situation. According to sources, “executives have recently held high-level discussions about Fox Business host Bartiromo’s future at the company.”

Bartiromo would seem to be the most likely to get the ax, the report continues, if only because she allowed so many questionable guests to come on her show and spread their lies and conspiracy theories.

In recent years, the host became a mouthpiece for Trump, propping up conspiracy theories and peddling lies about the 2020 election. Those falsehoods found their way into a Dominion Voting Systems filing in the company’s mega-lawsuit against Fox. The filing pointed to Bartiromo’s Nov. 8 interview with Trump-aligned attorney, Sidney Powell, to discuss “voting irregularities” — on-air programming that contrasted sharply with the host’s Dominion deposition statements, in which Bartiromo said the email underpinning Powell’s claims was “nonsense.”

In other words, no one feels safe anymore. But would Fox actually clear the decks completely and get rid or Bartiromo, Pirro, and even Sean Hannity? No one’s job is safe at the moment, including those of top executives who helped enable the faulty reporting in the first place, in addition to speaking to the press about what’s going on inside Fox headquarters.

Other sources at and close to the network say that, in the wake of Carlson’s ouster, some Fox brass have grilled certain staff about whether they or their teams had recently blabbed to the press about Carlson’s abrupt dismissal.

It should be an interesting to watch what happens at Fox in the weeks ahead. About the only people whose jobs are safe all have the last name of Murdoch.