former President Donald Trump and 18 associates were indicted by a Georgia grand jury on Monday. The charges are related to their alleged involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. The indictment, signed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, was unsealed approximately two hours after being signed.
Among the indicted individuals are former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Kenneth Chesebro. Additionally, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, ex-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, and Trump’s 2020 Election Day Director of Operations Michael Roman also face charges.
Former President Trump, aged 77, is facing a total of 13 counts in this case, including violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, conspiracy, false statements, and asking a public official to violate their oath of office. The indictment alleges that the defendants and others associated with them formed a criminal organization engaging in various illegal activities, including false statements, forgery, computer theft, and perjury.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who initiated the investigation nearly two years ago, announced at a press conference that all 19 defendants would be tried together. She granted them less than two weeks to turn themselves in, with a deadline set for August 25, 2023. Willis expressed the intention to move the case to trial within the next six months, potentially making Georgia the first jurisdiction to put a former U.S. president on trial.
The indictment is the fourth legal case brought against Trump within a span of approximately four-and-a-half months. In March, he was charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with 34 counts of business fraud in connection to alleged falsification of records regarding hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Later, federal prosecutor Jack Smith brought charges against Trump for keeping classified national security information at his Mar-a-Lago resort, followed by another indictment related to his efforts to contest the 2020 election results.
Trump’s legal team responded to the indictment by criticizing Willis as a “rabid partisan” and characterizing the charges as politically motivated. The statement further claimed that the investigation was an attempt to interfere with the upcoming 2024 presidential race.
In this evolving situation, former President Trump and his associates now face a total of 91 criminal charges across four separate cases, spanning allegations related to election overturn efforts, classified documents mishandling, and hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.
