{"id":2002175,"date":"2023-08-16T07:18:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T11:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/to-understand-the-latest-crazy-trump-indictment-check-out-the-6-types-of-charges\/"},"modified":"2023-08-16T07:22:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T11:22:50","slug":"to-understand-the-latest-crazy-trump-indictment-check-out-the-6-types-of-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/to-understand-the-latest-crazy-trump-indictment-check-out-the-6-types-of-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"To grasp Trump&#8217;s latest indictment, explore the 6 charge types."},"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\">20<\/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%2Fto-understand-the-latest-crazy-trump-indictment-check-out-the-6-types-of-charges%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=2002175&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--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>Breaking News: \u200dFormer President Donald Trump Indicted<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Late \u2064Monday, Fulton County District Attorney \u200cFani Willis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23909564-criminal-indictment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">charged<\/a> former President\u2064 Donald Trump and 18 other\u2064 defendants \u200cin a 98-page indictment \u200dthat included \u2064a\u2062 total of 41\u2063 different counts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The defendants are already fighting back, with Trump\u2019s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, seeking to remove the case to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/savage-to-newsmax-im-filing-injunction-to-stop-biden-firing\/\" title=\"Savage to Newsmax: I'm Filing Injunction to Stop Biden Firing\">federal court based<\/a> \u200don a \u2062statute that\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/meadows-seeks-move-fulton-county-election-case-federal\/story?id=102295084\">protects<\/a> federal officials from state court prosecution for official conduct. More counteroffensives will likely follow, with other former federal officials, including Trump, presumably also \u200bseeking removal \u200cto\u200c federal court, \u200cwhile the remaining defendants will\u200b probably expeditiously move to dismiss the indictment on a variety of \u200bgrounds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2030590100\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b4d787c477bb77e0bdc439bf34875b37 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b4d787c477bb77e0bdc439bf34875b37\"><\/div>\n<p>To get a handle on the indictment and\u2064 to\u2062 stay current with the various developments, it \u2064is helpful to \u2063put \u2064the charges into one of six buckets, starting with the biggest one: the alleged RICO\u2064 conspiracy.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bucket 1: RICO<\/h2>\n<p>The Racketeer Influenced and\u200b Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)\u200c count runs some 70 pages and says all 19 defendants, \u201cwhile associated with an enterprise, unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and\u2064 participate in, directly\u2062 and indirectly, such enterprise\u2063 through a pattern of\u200c racketeering activity.\u201d The indictment next defines the \u201centerprise\u201d as\u2064 \u201ca group\u200c of individuals associated in\u200c fact,\u201d who \u201chad connections and relationships with one another\u201d and \u201cfunctioned as a continuing unit for a common purpose\u2064 of \u200bachieving \u2062the objectives of the enterprise,\u201d which \u200cWillis maintains was \u201cto unlawfully change the outcome of\u200d the\u2062 election in favor of Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are \u2064several \u200cproblems with the RICO \u2063count, most fundamentally, as Andrew McCarthy\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2023\/08\/fani-williss-flawed-rico-charge-against-trump\/\">explained<\/a> in an enlightening article, RICO requires an \u201centerprise,\u201d which, while not necessarily \u2064a formal entity, needs\u2063 to be an identifiable group.\u2064 The RICO crime, then, is\u200c \u201cbeing a member of \u200cthe enterprise \u200bthat commits crimes, not\u200b the \u2062commission of any particular crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But there must be some sort of \u201centerprise,\u201d and here Willis conflates the objective \u2014 keeping\u200b Trump in power \u2014 with \u201cthe enterprise.\u201d \u201cIt was that objective, and not the sustaining\u200b of any group, that brought them together; and once\u200b that\u2064 objective was\u200c attained or conclusively \u200ddefeated, the group \u2014 to the dubious extent it really was an identifiable group \u2014 \u200cwould (and\u2064 did) melt away,\u201d \u200cMcCarthy wrote. \u200dIt\u2019s a \u201cgood sign that you\u2019re not dealing with a RICO enterprise,\u201d the former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-federal-prosecutor-seven-chances-in-ten-trump-gets-indicted\/\" title=\"Former Federal Prosecutor: \u2018Seven Chances In Ten\u2019 Trump Gets Indicted\">federal prosecutor explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e17e3011b3548d51ce4e9e5efa56e399 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e17e3011b3548d51ce4e9e5efa56e399\"><\/div>\n<p>Without an \u201centerprise,\u201d there can\u200d be no RICO crime, and\u2062 the\u200d facts \u2063alleged in the indictment are such that the defendants will likely soon \u2063seek dismissal of\u200d that count.\u2062 Now, Georgia\u200b law differs from federal law on RICO, and there \u200dis no saying\u200b how the state court will interpret \u2063its own RICO statute, \u200dbut from a\u200b legal perspective, \u2063the claim is exceedingly weak.<\/p>\n<p>The second fundamental problem \u200bwith the RICO\u2064 count is factual: Willis\u200b portrays the defendants \u200cas trying \u2063to unlawfully change the election in Trump\u2019s favor, \u2063but the \u200dmany actions\u200b Trump\u200c and others took involved legal\u200d proceedings\u2063 and efforts \u2064to convince \u200bthe legislative bodies to use their authority to address what the defendants saw as a fatally flawed election. A court is unlikely to toss the complaint on\u2064 this ground, however, with factual disputes ones only a jury can\u2064 resolve.<\/p>\n<p>However, if \u2062the court \u200bholds, as it appears \u2064it\u200c should, that the RICO count\u200d fails as\u200b a matter of law because there was no \u201centerprise,\u201d then that factual dispute is\u2064 irrelevant. Likewise, the 160-some \u2062\u201cacts\u201d Willis\u2062 included in the indictment \u2014 everything \u2064from Trump declaring victory on Nov. 4 to tweeting that followers should watch\u2062 a television newscast \u2014 allegedly in furtherance of the \u201cRICO\u201d conspiracy become irrelevant.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bucket 2: Alternate\u200c Electors<\/h2>\n<p>The second-biggest bucket\u200d concerns the \u2062counts related to the naming of alternative \u200cTrump electors. \u2062The crimes alleged here range from soliciting \u200dindividuals to violate\u2063 their\u2063 oaths \u200cof office, to conspiring to file\u200d false statements or documents,\u2063 to forgery. Counts 2, 6, 8-19, 23, and 37 alleged these and other crimes against various defendants all arising out \u200cof Republicans appointing an alternative slate of Trump \u2064electors who \u200bwould vote for Trump in the event he prevailed in\u2064 his then-pending Georgia lawsuit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d5df7b8cfcb4dcd4e61c72e1c5cffdbe fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d5df7b8cfcb4dcd4e61c72e1c5cffdbe\"><\/div>\n<p>While the\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-legacy-media-continues-to-ignore-the-lefts-growing-civil-war\/\" title=\"The Legacy Media Continues To Ignore The Left\u2019s Growing Civil War\">legacy media continue<\/a> to frame these individuals as \u201cfake electors,\u201d as I\u2019ve \u2063previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/05\/15\/the-lefts-2020-fake-electors-narrative-is-fake-news\/\">detailed<\/a>, that \u2064is fake news. Rather, legal precedent \u200cindicates\u2062 that alternative electors should be named to protect\u2064 a candidate\u2062 challenging the outcome of an election, as Trump was in Georgia \u200cand elsewhere. That is precisely \u2064what Democrats did in\u2062 Hawaii in\u200c 1960 when Richard Nixon had\u2063 been\u2062 declared the victor in \u2064the\u2062 state, \u200cbut \u200bJohn F. Kennedy\u2019s\u200c court contest remained\u2064 viable.<\/p>\n<p>As a matter \u2064of law, these counts should all be dismissed because Republicans naming \u2064alternate electors was not a crime \u200d\u2014 \u200bno\u200b matter\u2063 how much the press wants \u200cyou to believe otherwise.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bucket 3: \u200dPetitioning the Government for\u200b Redress<\/h2>\n<p>The crimes charged in Counts 5, 28,\u2062 38, and 39 \u200bfit into a third\u200b bucket \u2063that consists \u2063of efforts by Trump and others to petition \u200bthe\u2063 government\u2064 for\u200d redress. \u2062Here,\u2063 the crimes charged\u200c include\u200d solicitation \u200bof violations of oath by public officers\u200d and the\u200d making of false statements during those efforts, but the \u2064common theme is that the defendants sought to have Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger or the Georgia legislature address Trump\u2019s allegations of \u2062voting irregularities\u200d or\u2062 fraud.<\/p>\n<p>There is nothing \u2062criminal, \u200bhowever, in asking\u2064 the secretary of\u2063 state to use his authority to investigate and \u200brespond\u2062 to voting irregularities or \u2064to ask \u200dthe legislature to call a special session\u200b to\u2063 name Trump electors. On the contrary, \u200dthose \u2064activities would seemingly be protected by the constitutional guarantee \u2062of the right to petition the government for redress.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bucket \u20624: False Statements<\/h2>\n<p>The fourth bucket holds numerous \u2062counts against a variety of defendants with the common theme\u2064 being\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/handwritten-notes-from-2017-show-fbi-agents-mislead-doj-on-the-trump-russia-investigation\/\" title=\"Handwritten Notes From 2017 Show FBI Agents Mislead DOJ On The Trump-Russia Investigation\">false statements charges<\/a>. \u2062Count 27 alleged false statements were included in one of Trump\u2019s election lawsuits, but lawyers are entitled to rely on information provided\u200c for \u200bothers, \u2063making this count \u2062weak. Counts \u20647, 24, 25, and 26 all\u200c charged individual defendants\u2064 with \u2063making false statements\u2064 to Georgia House or \u200bSenate\u200c committees. \u2062The main issue here\u200b will\u200c be whether the defendants made\u2064 the statements knowing they\u2064 were false.<\/p>\n<p>Count 22 charges an attempt to make a false statement and concerns a letter DOJ lawyer\u200c Jeff Clark drafted and recommended\u2062 be sent to the Georgia legislature. \u200cAs \u2063I previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/05\/dc-bar-assails-trump-doj-lawyer-for-dishonesty-to-mask-democrats-2020-election-lies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">detailed<\/a>, however, there was no impropriety in Clark\u2019s drafting of that letter. Clark \u2063will also likely\u200d succeed in having\u2062 the case against him removed\u2063 to \u2063federal court\u2063 and then dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>Counts 40 and 41 both involve charges of\u200b lying as well, with Count 40 alleging one defendant \u2064lied to Fulton County investigators and\u2062 Count 41 alleging\u200d perjury before\u2062 a grand jury.\u200d Given the target \u200bon these defendants\u2019 backs, it\u2019s difficult to believe\u2063 they knowingly lied, but that question\u200d may \u200cend up being \u200bleft to a jury to decide.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bucket 5: Communications Related to Ruby Freeman<\/h2>\n<p>Counts 20, 21, \u206330, \u2063and 31 all involve charges concerning efforts to supposedly influence the testimony of Ruby\u200b Freeman, who was an\u200b election worker at the State Farm Arena. Here, the theory seems to be that some of \u200dthe defendants attempted to pressure Freeman to lie \u2062about what happened during\u2064 the vote counting. \u200bAgain, it may be \u200cleft to\u2064 a jury to decide this \u200dissue.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bucket\u2063 6: Accessing Voting Machines and Election Data<\/h2>\n<p>The final category of charges involves efforts by Sidney Powell and others to\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/to-understand-the-latest-crazy-trump-indictment-check-out-the-6-types-of-charges\/\" title=\"To grasp Trump's latest indictment, explore the 6 charge types.\">allegedly illegally access voting machines<\/a> and election results. \u200dCounts 32-36 allege various crimes related \u200bto those efforts,\u200c including\u200d conspiracy to commit election fraud by tampering with machines. Once the defendants charged in those counts respond, it will\u2064 be easier to assess the criminal theories proffered and \u200cany weakness in the claims.<\/p>\n<p>For now, though, watch for the\u2064 federal court\u2019s holding on \u2064whether Meadows, \u2062Clark, Trump, and \u2064potentially \u200bothers \u2062have the right to \u2063remove\u200b the case to federal court. Simultaneously, expect the other defendants to \u2062seek dismissal of all or part of the \u200dindictment, likely narrowing\u2063 this criminal case down substantially.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, Fani Willis, Fulton County District Attorney, filed a 98-page indictment against Donald Trump and 18 others, listing 41 counts. The defendants, including Mark Meadows, Trump&#8217;s ex-chief of staff, are resisting the charges. Meadows aims to transfer the case to federal court, citing a statute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2002176,"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":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2002175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"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\/2002175","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\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2002175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2002176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2002175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2002175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2002175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}