Former President Trump Could Face Multiple Criminal Charges Over Attempts To Overturn Georgia Election: report says
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Former President Donald Trump might face many charges related to his previous attempts to change Georgia’s election results, a new analysis says.
The Brookings Institution, a renowned think-tank in Washington, DC, evaluated publicly available information that suggested Trump and his aides attempted to “change the lawful outcome of the election.“
The report said, “We conclude that Trump’s postelection conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes.”
The now-famous January 3 call by Trump to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the former president instructed him to “find 11,780 votes” to reverse now-President Joe Biden’s victory in the state, is a major piece of evidence.
Trump repeatedly said throughout the call, “There’s no way I lost Georgia, There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”
Those allegations were false, as Biden won the state by roughly 12,000 votes, marking him the first Democratic presidential contender to carry the state since 1992.
According to the report, Trump publicly pressured and personally called many other Republican officials in Georgia, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, to ask for their assistance in overturning his electoral loss in the state. In December, Trump reportedly made direct calls to officials, pleading with them to support “his increasingly desperate plans to decertify his loss.“
The report said, “We conclude that Trump’s postelection conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes, these charges potentially include criminal solicitation to commit election fraud; intentional interference with the performance of election duties; conspiracy to commit election fraud; criminal solicitation; and state RICO violations.”
According to the report, former presidents have some protection for actions that “fall within the scope of their lawful duties as a federal official“
Trump’s actions were “well outside the scope of his official duties,” the report noted.
Trump has been promoting false accusations that the 2020 election was rigged for months, claiming that votes came from ceilings and calling for forensic vote audits in highly disputed areas like Arizona and Wisconsin.
Several criminal investigations into the former president’s actions while in office, as well as his wealth, are now underway.
