Georgian prosecutors are expected to file charges against Donald Trump this week. Credit: EPA
Many critics of Donald Trump have long accused him of acting like a mob boss.
Now prosecutors in Georgia are using a law designed to convict gangsters like John Gotti and El Chapo against the former president.
Prosecutors filed racketeering and other charges against Trump, 77, late Monday night.
«Find me votes»
The case began with Trump's infamous phone call to a Georgia senior election official, asking him to «find» more than 11,000 votes to win the state.
It was January 2, 2021, in Trump's final weeks in office, when he called Brad Raffensperger to pressure him to help reverse Joe Biden's statewide victory.
“Look, all I want to do,” Trump told him, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more vote than we have.”
The recording of the telephone conversation was published by the American media the very next day.
It so happened that the next day, January 3, was Fani's first day Willis as District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia.
“My very first day in this office,” she later recalled, “it was all televised.”
p>< p>Ms Willis, an elected Democrat, said she hoped Mr Raffensperger might have been «in a different county» when the bell rang.
She soon discovered that the incident fell under her jurisdiction. «I'm stuck with this,» she told the New York Times.
White House Pressure Campaign
And thus began Ms. Willis' 2.5-year investigation into potentially illegal «Trump's attempts to influence» the outcome of the investigation. elections 2020.
The case, assembled by Ms. Willis, paints a vivid portrait of what Trump and his allies went to in their crusade.
They were attended not only by the President, but also by senior White House officials, Republican operatives, lawyers associated with Trump, and even a low-level official in the US Department of Justice.
Besides him, it is sad famous phone call, Trump spent weeks spreading baseless allegations of widespread election fraud in an aggressive pressure campaign to sway public opinion.
Efforts in Georgia began two days after the November 3, 2020 presidential election.
The then president's eldest son, Donald Jr., traveled to the Georgia Republican Party headquarters in Atlanta to deliver a personal message to Republican officials: support my father or whatever.
«Americans need to know this is not a banana republic,» the younger Trump yelled, echoing claims that Georgia and other critical states have been hijacked by election abuse.
«Someone's going to do it.» be killed.”
As Joe Biden moved closer to winning the 2020 election, Trump stepped up his rhetoric.
He branded Mr. Raffensperger as an «enemy of the people» and reinforced his claims of electoral fraud.
"enemy of the people" Author: Mr. Trump. Photo: AP.
This prompted Gabriel Sterling, Mr. Raffensperger's aide, to organize a press conference detailing the wave of threatening messages hitting Georgia's polling stations.
Someone's going to get killed, Mr. Raffensperger said, visibly shocked.
Trump's allies also falsely claimed that rank-and-file election officials were responsible for throwing out the ballots and circulated a selectively edited video to reinforce the accusations.
In one of the strangest turns of events, Kanye West's publicist confronted one of the election officials at her home and accused her of fraud.
Subsequent election death threats by workers forced one into hiding.
“Fake voters”
There was also a wider alleged scheme to undermine the election results.
Mr Trump’s allies hatched a possible plan to use “fake voters” » voters to cancel the results of the popular vote and falsely confirm that he won in Georgia and other states.
Lawsuits involving Donald Trump and when they began
Two attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, were heavily involved in the scheme.
Speaking to Georgia lawmakers, Mr. Giuliani said there was «sufficient evidence» that the election was a «sham» and that it was Republican-controlled the legislature has the power to nominate pro-Trump electors.
This plan culminated in a deadly riot at the US Capitol as Congress convened to formally certify the results.
The Mob Boss Act was used to indict Trump
In filing a criminal lawsuit against Mr. Trump, Ms. Willis brought to bear one of her favorite prosecutorial tools: the RICO laws.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Laws have been known to be used to destroy the Mafia and other Mafia bosses.
But Georgia's extensive racketeering law is broader than most. It is considered a crime to participate in, acquire or maintain control of an «enterprise» through a «racketeering scheme» or conspire to do so.
Ms. Willis has used Rico with great success in a number of high-profile prosecutions, including against gang members, high school teachers, and a Grammy-winning rapper.
Rico's indictment allows prosecutors to get a complete picture of all alleged illegal activity, which may include detailed information that may not be specific to specific crimes, but is relevant to the broader alleged pattern.
Rico's convictions also carry a harsh potential sentence that can be added to the punishment for major acts.
In Georgia, Rico's conviction carries a potential prison sentence of five to 20 years; a $25,000 fine or three times the criminal proceeds, whichever is greater; either a prison sentence or a fine.
«I'm a fan of Rico,» Ms. Willis said last year.
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