Attorneys for former President Donald Trump called Monday’s events leading up to and including the indictment of the former president in Fulton County, Georgia, “shocking and absurd.”
Attorneys Drew Findling, Jennifer Little, and Marissa Goldberg decried the release of an apparent indictment early Monday afternoon, which Georgia officials claimed was “fictitious,” followed by the release of an indictment against Trump and 18 others on racketeering charges related to the 2020 election. The attorneys claim the inadvertent release of the document caused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to “force through and rush” the eventual indictment.
DONALD TRUMP INDICTED: GEORGIA GRAND JURY CHARGES EX-PRESIDENT, 18 OTHERS IN SWEEPING RICO CASE
“The events that have unfolded today have been shocking and absurd, starting with the leak of a presumed and premature indictment before the witnesses had testified or the grand jurors had deliberated and ending with the District Attorney being unable to offer any explanation. In light of this major fumble, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office clearly decided to force through and rush this 98-page indictment,” the statement, released early Tuesday, said.
The attorneys dismissed the indictment process as “flawed and unconstitutional,” but they said they are still looking forward to a “detailed review” of the charging document.
“This one-sided grand jury presentation relied on witnesses who harbor their own personal and political interests— some of whom ran campaigns touting their efforts against the accused and/or profited from book deals and employment opportunities as a result. We look forward to a detailed review of this indictment which is undoubtedly just as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire process has been,” the statement said.
Willis, in a late-night press conference, said that Trump and his co-conspirators were working to “accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the presidential term of office beginning on January 20th, 2021.”
Trump was indicted on 13 counts, while others included on the charging document included attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and Sidney Powell, along with former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. A total of 19 people were indicted as part of the alleged racketeering scheme, but the charging document also mentioned roughly 30 unnamed alleged co-conspirators.
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The former president has been indicted in three other jurisdictions this year. Trump was indicted in Manhattan in late March on charges related to the alleged falsification of business records, he was federally indicted in Florida for his alleged mishandling of classified documents in June, and he was federally indicted in Washington, D.C., earlier this month for charges related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump is the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, leading all other candidates by nearly 40%, per the RealClearPolitics polling average. Winning the GOP nomination would likely lead to a 2020 election rematch against President Joe Biden, the front-runner on the Democratic side.
