4:55 a.m. Tuesday
Former President Donald Trump reacted to his indictment by a Georgia grand jury late Monday night and Tuesday morning.
America is going through a “dark period,” the Republican presidential frontrunner told Fox News.
“Nineteen people were indicted, and the whole world is laughing at the United States as they see how corrupt and horrible a place it has turned out to be under the leadership of Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with the network.
The charges against Trump and 18 others include allegations of violating Georgia’s RICO Act. They were announced by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis,
“The racist and corrupt district attorney of Fulton County, which has turned out to be a murder capital of the world with among the highest violent crime levels anywhere in our country, just opened a fundraising site in order to benefit off the things she most campaigned on, ‘I will get Donald Trump,’” he said, referring to Willis.
Trump said the announcement was the continuation of a witch hunt against him.
“This politically-inspired indictment, which could have been brought close to three years ago, was tailored for placement right smack in the middle of my political campaign, where I am leading all Republicans — by a lot — and beating Joe Biden soundly in almost all polls,” he said.
On his Truth Social platform on Tuesday morning, Trump also reacted.
“So, the Witch Hunt continues! 19 people Indicated, including the former President of the United States, me, by an out of control and very corrupt District Attorney who campaigned and raised money on, ‘I will get Trump.’ And what about those Indictment Documents put out, long before the Grand Jury even voted, and then quickly withdrawn? Sounds Rigged to me! Why didn’t they Indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign. Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote.
10:55 p.m. Monday
A Georgia grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 others on criminal charges Monday night.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced the grand jury’s decision just before midnight ET. She set a deadline of Friday, August 25 for defendants to turn themselves in.
The charges allege that Trump and some of his former top aides attempted to reverse the 2020 election results in Georgia.
“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,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
The indictment includes charges against former Trump lawyer and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and legal adviser Sidney Powell.
Trump, the 2024 frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, was charged with 13 felonies.
Trump’s lawyers issued a statement saying, in part: “We look forward to a detailed review of this indictment which is undoubtedly just as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire process has been.”
It was the fourth time that Trump has been indicted in five months.
3:30 p.m. Monday
Former President Donald Trump has so far not been indicted in Georgia, contrary to some initial reports.
A list of criminal charges against Trump briefly and mistakenly appeared Monday on a Fulton County website, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Prosecutors said the list was premature and that Trump had not been indicted in Fulton County’s investigation of the 2020 presidential election. A county grand jury was hearing from witnesses on Monday, various media outlets reported.
Reuters news service published the list, which appeared around 12 p.m. CST. Some of the charges were state racketeering counts, conspiracy to commit false statements, and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.
A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the report of charges being filed was “inaccurate.”
Willis has been investigating Trump and others after his narrow 2020 loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump criticized Willis in a post on his social media site on Monday, The New York Times reported. He said the grounds for the investigation were “ridiculous.”
“WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THE FULTON COUNTY GRAND JURY THAT I DID NOT TAMPER WITH THE ELECTION,” he wrote on Truth Social. “THE PEOPLE THAT TAMPERED WITH IT WERE THE ONES THAT RIGGED IT.”
Former Democratic Georgia Sen. Jen Jordan and former Democratic Georgia Rep. Bee Nguyen confirmed they testified before the grand jury.
“No individual is above the law, and I will continue to fully cooperate with any legal proceedings seeking the truth and protecting our democracy,” Nguyen said in a statement.
Barriers and street closures were placed around the courthouse in downtown Atlanta, the AJC reported.
In addition, state security officials will close gates around the State Capitol building in Atlanta as a precaution for “an undetermined period of time.” In an email sent to members of the Georgia General Assembly, state officials said the gates would close Tuesday sometime during business hours and will remain closed for several days.
Meanwhile, in New York, a judge denied Trump’s request that he recuse himself from the criminal case against Trump there.
Judge Juan Merchan said Trump’s team “failed to demonstrate that there exists concrete, or even realistic reasons for recusal to be appropriate, much less required on these grounds.”
“The speculative and hypothetical scenarios offered by [Trump] fall well short of the legal standard,” Merchan wrote, according to CBS News.
Trump has cited Merchan’s involvement in a 2022 trial in which Trump’s company was convicted of crimes as grounds for recusal.
