Trump indictment updates: Former president to hold press conference on Georgia
After a two-and-a-half-year probe, a Fulton County grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 others on charges related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
It marks the fourth indictment of the former president, who already faces federal charges in the special counsel's Jan. 6 and classified documents probes, as well as the Manhattan DA's hush money case. Prior to Trump, no former or current president had ever been indicted.
Latest Developments
Aug 15, 1:39 PM
'Perfect irony': Giuliani faces RICO charge similar to one he popularized as prosecutor
As an upstart chief prosecutor in perhaps the most prestigious legal office in the country, Rudy Giuliani in the mid-1980s made use of a novel way to quell the scourge of New York organized crime -- leveraging a brand new, little-known federal statute called Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.
Using RICO, as it's known, Giuliani managed to charge dozens of mobsters with seemingly unrelated crimes, all under the umbrella of one overarching scheme. At the time, it was a revolutionary use of federal law and it later served as a model for state and federal prosecutors around the country.
As U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Giuliani's successful prosecutions of New York's storied crime families made him a media darling and launched Giuliani's political career. But now, four decades later, Giuliani finds himself on the other side of his own legal legacy -- facing Georgia state criminal RICO charges in the Fulton County district attorney's case against his longtime boss, former President Donald Trump, and 18 of his allies.
"This is perfect, perfect irony," said Anthony Cardinale, a veteran defense attorney who represented "Fat Tony" Salerno, the former head of the Genovese crime family, in 1986. "Giuliani is going to be sitting in a courtroom, pray to God ... 40 years after he started bringing these exact types of cases."
To read more about Giuliani's winding road to prosecution, click here.
-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman
Aug 15, 1:11 PM
Kemp: 'The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen'
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who Donald Trump allegedly pressured to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, is defending the state's election process in response to the Fulton County indictment and Trump’s Truth Social post announcing a press conference on alleged voter fraud in Georgia.
"The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen," Kemp said in a statement. "For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward -- under oath -- and prove anything in a court of law. Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor."
He added, "The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus."
-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa
Aug 15, 9:35 AM
Trump to hold press conference Monday
Former President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post this morning that he will be holding a news conference Monday at 11 a.m. in Bedminster, New Jersey.
He wrote that at the news conference, he will present a "Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT" on alleged election fraud that took place in Georgia.
-ABC News Soorin Kim and Lalee Ibssa
Aug 15, 5:35 AM
Indictment an 'affront' to democracy, Giuliani says
Rudy Giuliani, who served as a personal attorney for President Donald Trump, said the indictment handed up on Monday evening amounted to "an affront to American Democracy."
The indictment would do "permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system," Giuliani, who was charged as an alleged co-conspirator of the former president, said in a statement.
He added, "It's just the next chapter in a book of lies with the purpose of framing President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime. They lied about Russian collusion, they lied about Joe Biden's foreign bribery scheme, and they lied about Hunter Biden's laptop hard drive proving 30 years of criminal activity. The real criminals here are the people who have brought this case forward both directly and indirectly."
-ABC News' Aaron Katersky
Aug 15, 12:38 AM
Indictment centers on RICO charges
The 98-page indictment centers on racketeering charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
It charges 41 counts, 13 of which Trump faces, and alleges that Trump made 13 false statements in his effort to overturn the election results.
Aug 15, 12:28 AM
Defendants include numerous attorneys associated with Trump
In addition to Trump, those charged include his one-time personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, attorney John Eastman, former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, attorney Jenna Ellis and attorney Sidney Powell.
The remaining defendants are Ray Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Shawn Still, Stephen Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Cathleen Latham, Scott Hall and Misty Hampton aka Emily Misty Hayes.
Aug 15, 12:13 AM
Indictment alleges 161 acts as part of racketeering charges
The indictment alleges 161 acts as part of the efforts to overturn the state's election results. They include press conferences and social media posts that themselves might not be crimes, but are being charged as part of the overarching enterprise.
Aug 14, 11:53 PM
Co-defendants worked in 'furtherance of the conspiracy,' indictment says
The indictment describes how several of the co-defendants, including Kenneth Chesebro, Michael Roman and James Shafer, worked together from Dec. 11, 2020. through Dec. 25, 2020, in several states including Georgia and Arizona, to commit acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
The alleged acts include Shafer reserving a room at the Georgia State Capitol in Fulton County, Georgia to gather "Trump presidential elector nominees," and Chesebro sending emails to Roman regarding Trump presidential elector nominees in other states.
The indictment also describes how the co-conspirators allegedly communicated with the Trump campaign about the Trump electors.
According to the indictment, Rowan instructed an individual associated with the Trump campaign to "distribute information related to the December 14, 2020 meetings of Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to other individuals associated with the campaign and co-conspirator 4."
On Dec. 13, 2020, Chesebro sent an email to Giuliani outlining the “multiple strategies for disrupting and delaying the joint session of congress on January 6, 2021,” the indictment says.
Aug 14, 11:41 PM
Defendants 'falsely accused' election worker, indictment says
The alleged enterprise "falsely accused" Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman of committing election crimes, the indictment says.
Members of the alleged enterprise traveled out of state "to harass Freeman, intimidate her, and solicit her to falsely confess to election crimes that she did not commit," it says.
Aug 14, 11:34 PM
Indictment spells out alleged 'false elector' scheme
The alleged enterprise, including "several" of the defendants, created "false Electoral College documents" and recruited individuals to cast "false Electoral College votes" at the Georgia State Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, and then transmitted those votes to the president of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. archivist, the Georgia secretary of state, and the chief federal judge in Atlanta, the indictment says.
"The false documents were intended to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, in order to unlawfully change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump,” says the indictment.
