Donald Trump.Photo: John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
Former PresidentDonald Trumppleaded not guilty Thursday in the Fulton County case alleging he and his allies attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in his favor.
The Fulton County charges bring Trump toa total of 91 criminal countshe’s been indicted on this year between the four investigations, several of which come with recommended prison time. If convicted of violating the Georgia RICO Act — classified a step above felony, as a “serious felony” — Trump would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
Trump and18 of his allieswere federally charged in an indictment released earlier this month.
Others indicted in the case included former White House chief of staffMark Meadows; former Trump attorneysRudy Giuliani,Sidney Powell,John Eastman,Jenna Ellis, Bob Cheeley, Ray Smith III and Kenneth Chesebro; former assistant U.S. attorney generalJeffrey Clark; former Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer; and current Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still.
The focus of two separate grand juries convened in the case was on whether Trump or his allies engaged in possible crimes related to their efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia, a historically red state where he lost the popular vote to DemocratJoe Biden.
Almost immediately afterlosing the state to Biden in 2020, Trump pinned his loss on fraud, all while pressuring officials in the state to “find” votes in his favor.
Much of the scandal regarding his efforts in Georgiahinged on a Jan. 2, 2021, phone callbetween the former president and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump told the secretary to “find 11,780 votes” for him.
That phone call — which was leaked toThe Washington Postand made public soon after —helped spark the various investigationsinto Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
source: people.com
