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Hawkish former US president Donald Trump has again been slammed with an extensive fourth set of criminal charges after a grand jury from the State of Georgia issued an indictment blaming him for plotting to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat to his Democratic rival and current President Joe Biden.
The sweeping 98-page indictment, announced Monday, listed 19 defendants and 41 criminal counts overall, adding to the growing legal woes of Trump, who remains the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
All of the defendants are charged with racketeering, which is used to target members of organized crime groups and carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Among the other defendants were Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, and lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.
“Trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” the indictment said as quoted in local press reports.
The indictment enumerates several offenses purportedly committed by Trump or his associates, such as providing false testimony to legislators regarding the occurrence of electoral fraud.
Additionally, the prosecutors referenced the unauthorized access to a voting system within a rural county in Georgia while state officials were also exhorted to tamper with the election outcomes.
The indictment extends across the country, alleging that Trump advisors, including Giuliani and Meadows, promoted the conspiracy by contacting officials in Arizona and Pennsylvania and attempting to alter the election results in those states.
Trump, meanwhile, strongly censured the indictment, which he described as “rigged” and a “witch hunt” aimed at harming his political campaign for the 2024 presidential election.
The origin of the case can be traced back to a telephone conversation that took place on January 2, 2021, during which former President Donald Trump asked Brad Raffensperger, the highest-ranking election official in Georgia, to procure sufficient votes to overturn his slim defeat in the state. However, Raffensperger refused to comply with this request.
Trump has refuted any allegations of misconduct and has entered a plea of not guilty in three separate cases. Furthermore, he has accused Willis, an elected Democrat, of being driven by political motivations.
The former president is scheduled to stand trial in the state of New York on March 25, 2024, for his alleged involvement in a hush money payment to a pornographic actress. Additionally, he is set to face a federal trial in Florida on May 20, pertaining to a classified documents case.
A third indictment has been filed against him in the Washington federal court, alleging illegal attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
