QOTD -- Arc Of Treachery And Deceit

 

An extended excerpt from an editorial by David Firestone, writing at the NYT:

... History needs a story line to be fully understood. The federal special counsel Jack Smith told only a few pieces of the story in an indictment limited to Mr. Trump, focusing mainly on the groups of fake state electors that Mr. Trump and his circle tried to pass off as real and the pressure campaign on Vice President Mike Pence to certify them. But in Georgia, Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, was unencumbered by the narrower confines of federal law and was able to use the more expansive state RICO statute to draw the clearest, most detailed picture yet of Mr. Trump’s plot.

As a result, her story is a much broader and more detailed arc of treachery and deceit, naming 19 conspirators and told in 161 increments, each one an “overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” forming the predicate necessary to prove a violation of the RICO act. (Neither of the indictments, unfortunately, holds Mr. Trump directly responsible for the Jan. 6 riot — a tale best told in the archives of the House Jan. 6 committee.)

Not each of the acts is a crime, but together they add up to the most daring and highest-ranking criminal plot in U.S. history to overturn an election and steal the presidency — and a plot that appears to have violated Georgia law, leaving no question about the importance of prosecuting Mr. Trump and his co-conspirators. Ms. Willis has risen to the occasion by documenting a lucid timeline, starting with Mr. Trump’s brazenly false declaration of victory on Nov. 4, 2020, and continuing with scores of conversations between the president and his lawyers and aides as they try to persuade a number of states to decertify the vote...  (our emphasis)

The broader historical story line is that, in 2016, the electoral college elected the most deranged, unqualified, ignorant, criminally- minded sociopath in America's 247 year history.  The story was almost destined to end like this.

Trump Charged With Election Fraud, Racketeering In GA

 

After more than two years of investigations, late last night a Fulton County, GA, grand jury indicted the felonious Malignant Loser and 18 of his co-conspirators with illegally trying to change the results of the 2020 Presidential election in Georgia. The lede paragraph from the Associated Press :

"Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia on Monday over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, with prosecutors using a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power.

The nearly 100-page indictment details dozens of acts by Trump or his allies to undo his defeat, including beseeching Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win the battleground state; harassing a state election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favorable to Trump.

In one particularly brazen episode, it also outlines a plot involving one of his lawyers to tamper with voting machines in a rural Georgia county and steal data from a voting machine company."

A copy of the indictment is here (pdf).  The Malignant Loser was charged with 13 counts in the sweeping indictment, including violating the state’s racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree and conspiring to file false documents. The indictment includes a total of 41 charges against the 19 individuals; all were charged with violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. From this morning's Washington Post story:

"Among those charged are Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who served as Trump’s personal attorney after the election; Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; and several Trump advisers, including attorneys John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.

Also indicted were two Georgia-based lawyers advocating on Trump’s behalf, Ray S. Smith III and Robert Cheeley; a senior campaign adviser, Mike Roman, who helped plan the elector meeting; and three prominent Georgia Republicans who served as electors: former GOP chairman David Shafer, former GOP finance chairman Shawn Still and Cathy Latham of Coffee County.

Several lesser-known players who participated in efforts to reverse Trump’s defeat in Georgia were also indicted, including three people accused of harassing Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman. They are Stephen Cliffgard Lee, Harrison Floyd and Trevian Kutti. The latter is a former publicist for R. Kelly and an associate of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West."  (our emphasis)

It's particularly gratifying that the scumbags that harassed Ms. Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss were named in the indictment. The Fulton County indictment dovetails with Special Counsel Jack Smith's January 6 indictment in that many of the same conspirators show up in both. 

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis stated that the indicted have until August 25 to turn themselves in.

BONUS:  Some takeaways from the 98-page indictment here.

(photo: Committing crime no doubt. Nicholas Kamm / AFP)