Trump Indicted: Part IV

Plus: Fulton County charges 18 co-defendants over their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

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Happy Wednesday! For the first time in history, according to Nielsen data, linear television accounted for less than 50 percent of Americans’ total viewing time in July—with cable TV accounting for 29.6 percent and broadcast TV 20 percent.

The other 50.4 percent? This YouTube video of a pug eating watermelon. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Federal prosecutors in a court filing yesterday denied recent allegations made by Hunter Biden’s legal team that prosecutors had “reneged” on a plea deal with their client, arguing that “the two proposed agreements were drafts that either party could propose changes to.” The lawyer who represented Hunter Biden in negotiating his plea deal with the Justice Department over alleged tax and gun offenses also stepped down Tuesday and vowed to testify as a witness on behalf of the president’s son in an attempt to save the plea deal which fell apart in court last month.
  • Charles McGonigal, a former high-ranking FBI agent, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to helping a sanctioned Russian oligarch in exchange for secret payments. Formerly the top agent at the FBI’s New York counterintelligence office, McGonigal now faces a maximum of five years in prison—rather than the 20 years he could have faced had he not admitted to accepting $17,500 from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
  • President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he and Jill Biden will travel to Hawaii “as soon as we can” to survey damage in the aftermath of wildfires which have killed at least 99 people on Maui. Biden declared a federal emergency and issued a statement expressing his condolences for the lives lost last week, but has faced criticism from Republicans who argue he has not adequately addressed the tragedy.
  • A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by the libertarian Cato Institute and other free market groups that had aimed to block the Biden administration’s latest student loan forgiveness push. The decision is a win for Biden, who announced changes to income-driven repayment plans last month in an effort to cancel debt for more than 800,000 borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down a more ambitious loan forgiveness program.
  • Chinese officials will no longer share data on the country’s youth unemployment rate, which has spiked in recent months, Beijing announced yesterday. China has recently attempted to restrict economic data as its economy spirals; the country’s central bank also unexpectedly cut key interest rates in an attempt to spur growth.
  • Retail spending in the U.S. grew at the fastest pace since the start of 2023 last month, according to new data released by the Commerce Department yesterday. Sales in the retail sector rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.7 percent from June, picking up from a 0.3 percent gain the prior month and outpacing July’s 0.2 percent increase in consumer prices. The data signal that consumer spending remains strong even as the Federal Reserve attempts to cool the economy with higher interest rates.
  • The Nevada Republican party announced Monday that it will hold a presidential caucus on February 8, 2024, jumping ahead of South Carolina’s ​​February 24 primary. The party’s decision defies Nevada’s state legislature, which in 2021 passed a law requiring a state-run primary, currently scheduled for February 6; the state GOP has maintained that it will allot delegates through its caucus, rather than the preceding primary.

Trump and 18 Co-Defendants Indicted in Georgia

Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks at Windham High School. (Photo by Erin Clark/ Boston Globe/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks at Windham High School. (Photo by Erin Clark/ Boston Globe/Getty Images)

What do former President Donald Trump, Young Thug, and Kanye West’s onetime publicist have in common? They’re all facing racketeering charges from Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia.

Trump was hit with his fourth and most expansive indictment Monday, this time for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia and promulgate his voter fraud falsehoods. But, unlike special counsel Jack Smith, Willis did not stop at Trump—she also indicted 18 co-conspirators in the effort under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a legal tool she’s previously wielded in unconventional ways against other high-profile defendants. The charges are serious—with mandatory sentencing minimums if convicted and beyond the reach of a presidential pardon—but Republicans by and large weren’t fazed. With four indictments in as many months, Trump, his allies, and his GOP primary opponents have fallen into patterns of denial and deflection that are proving just as useful this time around. 

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  1. Smstewart550

    From my limited legal perspective--translated, from what I've read and understood, Willis's use of RICO might be something of an overreach. The question I'd love answered is how can we get the Orange Guy to pay us back for all the tax dollars churned with this stuff?

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  2. Phillyex1

    It’s a shame our legal system is so convoluted that Trump is likely to walk on all of his crimes. If only the GOP, especially in the person of Mitch McConnell had had the balls to find him guilty.

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    Marybethdexter

    I’m no Trump fan, and I’m not a lawyer,. I find it hard to fathom that these 19 are guilty of racketeering toward a criminal enterprise. Guilty of terminal stupidity maybe, but criminal?This prosecution will take forever, and interfere with the election. This will lead to payback, and is a really bad idea.

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    Richard Maxton

    “We live in a society that’s terrible at moral formation.”

    --Well duh. We, as a society, can't even agree on some pretty fundamental basics - I say murder, you say late-term abortion; I say content of character rather than color of skin, you say if I'm not "antiracist", I'm a bigot. I say live and let live, you say make my cake or lose your livelihood. I say I should make the primary decisions in my child's life, you say I'm a hater and "phobic".

    I'd love to say Brooks is wrong in degree or direction, but I'm feeling pretty pessimistic these days. And it's something 2023-special when the people demanding tolerance and love are some of the ones to offer it so little.

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      PJ

      It must be tough to be so black and white in such a grey world. Sending my sympathies.

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        Richard Maxton

        THIS, by the way, is EXACTLY the problem. The "how dare you presume to judge" while simultaneously ignoring that morality requires exactly that - judgement - is a good part of how we got where we are.

        We can, of course, disagree on what we should be judging, and have discussions to come to an accord, but to just throw up a hand and insist I'M the fool for pointing out that right and wrong exist is a helluva thing.

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          PJ

          I didn't word that so good. I can agree to disagree. I see a lot more nuance to some of your examples. My apologies for being so black and white.

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            Richard Maxton

            Of course there's nuance, but in a negotiation one always starts with the strongest case. I say "always", you say "never" and then we hash it out and figure out a middle ground, which is what I was trying to imply by my examples. I'm sorry if I wasn't as clear as I could have been on that.

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        Richard Maxton

        I think a moral world demands some level of black and white, no?

        That isn't to say there isn't room for an entire spectrum of grey between the black and the white, but the one requires the others.

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          PJ

          My reaction is no. Worthy of pondering.

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            Richard Maxton

            Ha. As if I haven't spent my adult life pondering this. I ponder still, but we'll have to agree to disagree. I say that there are Good and Evil, Yes and No and also shades of grey and maybes.

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  5. Dnels

    “The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus,” Kemp said.

    I am not sure that type of thinking will produce the results he thinks it will.

    LUK: Yes, there was a conspiracy and everyone involved should face their day in court. It also ropes in more people who are likely to plead and testify instead of face prison time for an unworthy loser.

    A question hopefully someone smarter can help me with. Why would Meadows, Trump, and the rest be able to move to fed court as working on the campaign should not fall under their duties as a federal official?

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    Ms. SSM

    I think the Rico case allows the widest amount of evidence presentation. Thus it makes sense to charge it even if she loses it at trial. It also maximizes codefendants which I suspect is her whole plan.

    A difference between Fed and State prosecution I’ve noticed is the reach on charges. I reached for anything I had a good chance of proving, charged in the alternative and generally loaded up the indictment. It was rare that I deviated from that practice. Perhaps this is just the GA way because it’s a pain to change it later. I don’t know but I’ve noticed commentary that seems surprised by the strategy. It seems standard practice to me.

    Rico itself is incredibly broad. I’ve never prosecuted one. Especially one with so many coDs. But I highly doubt she ever intends to go to trial on the vast majority of these coDs. I anticipation plea deals to misdemeanors of quite a few in the next few months. The broad indictment is a game of chicken to see who will blink first.

    A note on the politics of this. That office is overwhelmed with cases post Covid. If she was looking to win local love she would have avoided this whole thing as many I’m sure advised her to. But Fani Willis is a moralizer type of prosecutor. She can’t let things go. Indeed that’s one of the reasons they have such a huge backlog. I do not say this as a fan of hers. I don’t like her. But I will defend her from the charges of pure political ambition in her decision making because ironically she doesn’t do enough of that in my book.

    Lastly everyone is focused on Rico but some of the other charges are in fact MUCH easier to prove and the evidence fairly obvious. I don’t think the case is particularly weak on those charges at all.

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      Aylene Wright

      Thanks for providing your perspective. Using RICO as a way to ensure the admissibility of evidence, seems quite understandable as a legal strategy.

      It seems Willis is certainly not going to actually prosecute all 19 co-defendants at the same time, that many will plea out.

      But, even if, say, most plead out and it's only 7 defendants left standing at the time of the actual trial, is her 6 month timeline actually realistic? Seems not if the office is already backed up.

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        Ms. SSM

        There may be some overestimation of her power here. It’s not her timeline to make. It won’t be tried in 6 months but it wont be because of her. This is not civil litigation where the parties are on equal footing. In prosecution the State doesn’t get the same delay leeway as the defense. That’s especially true in Fulton. She is saying she will be ready for trial in 6 months but she doesn’t actually determine when it’s tried.

        Assuming it’s in state court she’s going to be asking the judge to specially set the trial date (normal cases are on trial calendars with dozens of other cases). That’s something one would routinely do for unwieldy cases with multiple coD’s. Then it just depends on how kind her judge is and the defense schedule. Having indicted the case she’s basically presumed ready to try it. The Fulton County judges aren’t going to let her pick the time for her maximal convenience. They are notoriously defense friendly (we are talking fining prosecutors and jailing them for contempt type judges). So it makes sense that she would say she will be ready in 6 months. I would not have been surprised if she said she’s ready to try it ASAP. It would not go over well for her to say she isn’t ready for say two years. But it taking two years is very possible. It’s a matter of the defense attorneys being ready. But she can’t control that. They will have motions etc. So it wouldn’t be in her timeline. The Prosecution just says they are ready. If the defense isn’t that’s fine but that’s not our problem.

        I hope that made sense. Realistically the case won’t happen in 6 months. But FW should be ready for trial in 6 months. She really couldn’t have said anything else.

        Now if someone files a speedy all bets are off. GAs speedy statute is very strict. I’m curious to see if anyone is bold enough to do it. If someone files a speedy the case will be tried or that coD severed in about 6 months.

        Edit: Now that I think about it saying 6 months is about the longest time frame to give. Anything longer essentially invites a Speedy trial demand.

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      Jean-Christophe Jouffrey

      Dear Ms SSM,

      many legal pundits and commentators, are not specialized in all of the states legal systems, so in such cases, they speak out of an experience they do not have.

      I expect that it is even worse when something takes place in Louisiana.

      Thanks for an informed comment.

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  7. John.ryan

    Great move; this is what RICO is for - encourage the little folks to open up. Also, an elected Trump can't pardon convicts in state courts.

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      Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

      Yes, but: At the moment, they're not in state court anymore. They might be back.

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  8. @Fakejohn

    I have no idea if it is the right strategy or not but what an incredible mess. about half the country isn't going to believe Trump is guilty of anything regardless of evidence to the contrary or legal strategy employed. I worry it's going to take us decades to come out of this tailspin. I lay most of the blame on Trump but the reality is we're in this mess because Republicans won't hold him accountable because doing so would enrage most of their voters. Just a sad mess.

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      Aylene Wright

      Actually most polls in this have shown the majority of respondents think Trump did something criminal, usually around 60%, with the usual partisan splits for Democrats and Republicans, but the Independents are about 60% convinced of it.

      But also, similar majorities think the charges are politically motivated. I assume Republicans think that's bad, and Democrats think that's good. Independents probably cynically think that's just how politics work these days.

      A common Team Desantis refrain is "These charges are obviously politically motivated, but Trump idiotically gave them plenty of rope to hang him with, and he would surely lose for real to Biden this time (big wink at the Stop the Stealers), so we sadly have no choice but to throw him overboard for the sake of the party and the country. Happily, Ron has the same MAGA policies, without all the unelectable baggage!"

      Desantis himself, however, seems to be reluctant to personally engage in this kind of messaging, which I find cynical, but probably the best one possible as a way to peel off marginal MAGAs. Not sure that would really help even if he did use it himself, though.

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  9. Trichwages

    “The Nevada Republican party announced Monday that it will hold a presidential caucus on February 8, 2024, jumping ahead of South Carolina’s ​​February 24 primary. The party’s decision defies Nevada’s state legislature, which in 2021 passed a law requiring a state-run primary, currently scheduled for February 6; the state GOP has maintained that it will allot delegates through its caucus, rather than the preceding primary.”

    Will be interesting to see how the state responds to this considering the state has the Constitution on its side. Will also be interesting to see how the Republican Party responds.

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    DougAz

    In the good news category, you can now find every single Biden Administration IRA Investment, here:

    https://www.americanprogress.org/article/biden-administration-investment-tracker/

    A quick look, finds 4,157 individual projects in Texas alone. Across a range of needs, like Airports, Public safety, Environmental remediation, broadband to rural areas and so on.

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