A grand jury in Georgia that has been investigating former President Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 election results in that state has returned an indictment, though it was not immediately clear against whom.

A grand jury in Georgia that has been investigating former President Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 election results in that state has returned an indictment, though it was not immediately clear against whom.

  •  paper_clip   ( @paper_clip@kbin.social ) 
    2•11 months ago

    much easier to prosecute this sort of thing under RICO in Georgia than with the equivalent federal law

    The Atlantic had some commentary about how broad the Georgia indictment is, compared to the Federal one for Jan 6. Basically, Jack Smith is looking at the political calendar, and wants to have very narrow charges that can go to trial quickly. A broader, comprehensive set of charges would result in a more complicated, slower trial, with the possibility that Trump might win in 2024 and then just terminate the whole thing. If Smith wins the earlier trial, he can still come back and bring wider charges, against, say, all the co-conspirators, but the first trial needs to happen early.

    The Georgia one is less constrained by this political calendar, and the DA can bring the broadest range of charges into play, to show most of what Trump & Co were doing.

    The drawback to what Georgia is doing is setting a precedent for local prosecutors to bring charges against former Presidents. You can imagine political revenge by some rinky dink GOP prosecutor in Oklahoma or something indicting Biden out of spite.

    •  btaf45   ( @btaf45@kbin.social ) 
      1•11 months ago

      setting a precedent for local prosecutors to bring charges against former Presidents

      We very much want to set the precedent that Presidents are not above the law. Without that precedent the country will not remain a democracy.

      You can imagine political revenge by some rinky dink GOP prosecutor in Oklahoma or something indicting Biden out of spite.

      They would have to have 12 random citizen jurors agree that the charges are serious. We have checks and balances for that.