{"id":2001613,"date":"2023-08-15T17:31:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T21:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-georgia-trump-indictment-struggles-to-back-criminal-intention-claims\/"},"modified":"2023-08-15T17:34:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T21:34:26","slug":"analysis-georgia-trump-indictment-struggles-to-back-criminal-intention-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-georgia-trump-indictment-struggles-to-back-criminal-intention-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Trump Indictment Fails to Support Criminal Intent Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fanalysis-georgia-trump-indictment-struggles-to-back-criminal-intention-claims%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2001613&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>News Analysis<\/h2>\n<p>The indictment of former President Donald Trump in Georgia over his efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election lacks evidence\u2064 that he harbored the criminal intent necessary to be convicted.<\/p>\n<p>Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis \u2063laid her case out on Aug. 14, detailing how President Trump\u200c and his alleged co-conspirators claimed fraud in the 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere, \u2062how they arranged for an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-responds-criticizes-pence-over-comments-regarding-jan-6\/\" title=\"Trump Responds, Criticizes Pence Over Comments Regarding Jan. 6\">alternative slate<\/a> of\u2063 electors in Georgia and several other states, and how they \u2064tried to \u200duse this\u2062 strategy to delay the counting of electoral votes by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-defector-emails-pipeline-to-obama-admin-seen-as-currency\/\" title=\"Hunter Biden Defector Emails: 'Pipeline' to Obama Admin Seen as 'Currency'\">vice president<\/a> on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Willis alleged that 41 crimes\u2063 were committed by various persons \u200bin \u2064this effort. Of those, 11\u200c list\u200b President Trump as\u200d the defendant and most of those require various forms\u200c of criminal state of mind\u2014the perpetrator needs to be aware he\u2019s doing something unlawful.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/trump-seeks-stay-on-civil-jan-6-case-amid-criminal-case-battles-5466802\">Trump Seeks Stay on\u2062 Civil Jan. 6 Case \u2064Amid Criminal\u200d Case Battles<\/a> (8\/15\/2023)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/white-house-refusing-to-comment-on-trump-indictments-to-avoid-overstep-on-doj-independence-5467017\">White House Refusing to Comment on Trump Indictments to Avoid &#8216;Overstep&#8217; on DOJ \u2064Independence<\/a> (8\/15\/2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Fulton County\u200b District Attorney\u200d Fani Willis poses \u200dfor \u200da portrait\u2064 in Atlanta on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo\/Brynn Anderson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite its nearly 100\u200d pages, the indictment fails to\u2064 explain how Ms. Willis knows President Trump acted with criminal intent, rather than executing a strategy he believed was lawful.<\/p>\n<p>The indictment centers \u200bon \u200dthe\u200d overarching allegation that\u200d President Trump\u2019s effort to reverse the \u200belection results amounted to a \u200bracketeering \u2064conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>President Trump and his aides claimed the election was marred by irregularities and fraud and \u200dlobbied Georgia lawmakers \u2063to appoint an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/16-pro-trump-false-electors-charged-with-felonies-in-michigan\/\" title=\"16 individuals who falsely claimed to be electors for Donald Trump have been charged with felonies in Michigan.\">alternative \u2062slate<\/a> of electors that would cast their votes for President\u200d Trump. This effort, Ms. Willis alleges, violated the state\u2019s law against solicitation of a felony\u2014namely, convincing \u2062the lawmakers to break their oath of office.<\/p>\n<p>The Georgia\u2064 Oath of Office states:\u2064 &#8220;I do hereby solemnly swear or\u200b affirm that I will support the Constitution of this state\u200d and of the \u2064United States and, on all questions and measures\u200b which may\u200d come before me, I will so conduct myself, as will, in\u2062 my judgment, be most conducive to the \u2064interests and prosperity of this state.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The indictment\u2062 doesn\u2019t explain what specific part of the oath the lawmakers were asked to break.<\/p>\n<p>More \u200bfundamentally, however, violating the oath is <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2010\/title-16\/chapter-10\/article-1\/16-10-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">only criminal<\/a> when done \u201cwillfully,\u201d meaning with criminal\u200b intent. Ms. Willis didn\u2019t explain how she knows the people involved thought they were committing a crime, rather than pursuing a legal avenue \u2064to challenge the election result.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:321px\" class=\"alignleft\"><figcaption>President John F. Kennedy in Miami, 1963. (State Archive\u2062 of Florida\/Public Domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Setting up an alternative elector slate bears a legal precedent in the 1960 Hawaii election, where John \u200cF.\u200b Kennedy \u2063challenged the result in court with a recount pending even\u2063 as Richard Nixon was certified the winner. Under such circumstances, Democrat electors convened to \u2064cast \u200dtheir votes for Mr. Kennedy\u200d and signed certification to \u2062that effect. As Mr.\u200d Kennedy succeeded \u2062with his challenge, it \u200dwas only thanks to the existence of the alternative elector slate \u200cthat the\u200c state\u2019s votes were counted.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Willis charged some of the GOP electors with impersonating a public officer by declaring themselves in writing to be legitimate electors. But that\u200b crime also \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2010\/title-16\/chapter-10\/article-2\/16-10-23\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">requires<\/a> criminal intent\u2014an intent to mislead. Willis didn\u2019t explain how she knew this was their intention. The state\u2019s Republican Party has stated that it was made clear by the electors that they were casting votes that would only\u200b be counted if President Trump succeeded in contesting the election in court.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Willis \u200calso charged the \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-georgia-trump-indictment-struggles-to-back-criminal-intention-claims\/\" title=\"Georgia Trump Indictment Fails to Support Criminal Intent Allegations\">alternative elector \u2063certificate creation<\/a> as a \u200bforgery. This\u2062 crime\u200b also <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2020\/title-16\/chapter-9\/article-1\/section-16-9-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">requires<\/a> a criminal state of mind\u2014an\u2063 intent\u2063 to defraud.\u2063 Again, Ms. Willis didn\u2019t explain \u2064how she knew this was indeed their intent.<\/p>\n<p>The indictment also accuses President Trump\u200d and others\u2062 of making \u200dvarious false statements regarding \u200dthe \u200delection results. Regardless of the accuracy of the claims, however, the law again <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2010\/title-16\/chapter-10\/article-2\/16-10-20\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">requires<\/a> willfulness. Ms. Willis didn\u2019t clarify in the indictment how she knew President Trump \u2064didn\u2019t believe what \u200che was saying.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after Ms. Willis unveiled her indictment, President Trump\u2063 announced a press conference during which he intends to present a \u2063\u201cconclusive\u201d report on\u200d what he\u200b believed constituted election fraud in\u2063 Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2064 shortage of evidence of the state of mind\u200c required\u2064 for conviction has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/trump-indictment-criminalizes-legal-counsel-former-prosecutor-5445701\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emerged as an\u200d issue<\/a> with the charges brought against President Trump by special counsel Jack Smith\u2014also for the effort to reverse the 2020 election result.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>American prosecutor\u2064 Jack Smith presides during \u2063a presentation before a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/september-11-accomplice-leaves-guantanamo-bay-sent-home-to-saudi-arabia\/\" title=\"September 11 Accomplice Leaves Guantanamo Bay: Sent Home to Saudi Arabia\">war crimes court<\/a> in The Hague\u2064 on Nov. \u200c9, 2020. (Jerry Lampen\/Pool\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mr. Smith\u2063 proposed a trial in the case to start with jury selection on Dec. 11, giving the defense \u200bsome three months\u200b to go over more than 11 million pages\u200b and files of discover<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former President Donald Trump&#8217;s indictment in Georgia for attempting to overturn the 2020 election lacks evidence of criminal intent. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis presented her case on Aug. 14, outlining allegations of fraud by Trump and his alleged co-conspirators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":2001614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2001613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2001613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2001614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2001613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2001613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2001613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}