ATLANTA — After Donald Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis took the podium to address the charges.
She began her press conference by naming each person listed in the sprawling 41-page indictment, beginning by first saying "Donald John Trump" followed by the rest of his allies, which included former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and several fake electors.
Willis said that all 19 people charged in the indictment face one count of violating Georgia's RICO Act "through participation in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere to accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the presidential term of office beginning on January 20, 2021."
She said those now facing charges took actions in Georgia that attempted to block thousands of votes in the presidential election, despite Pres. Joe Biden being the certified winner in the state in the 2020 election.
Willis described the indictment included acts that are deemed "overt acts" and those identified as "predicate acts" which she described as racketeering activity. She said overt acts aren't necessarily crimes when they are isolated, but in this case, were taken to further the process of attempting to overturn the election. Wills said many occurred in Georgia, referring to those charged as "fake electors" in other jurisdictions, such as Coffee County.
"All elections in our nation are administered by the states, which are given the responsibility of ensuring a fair process and an accurate counting of the votes," Wills said. "That includes elections for presidential electors, congress, state officials and local offices. The state's role in this process is essential to the functioning of our democracy."
Willis said that Georgia has laws to challenge election results in a legal way through state courts. But the indictment alleges rather than obey that law, those facing charges "engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result."
The district attorney then told Trump and his allies they must turn themselves in by the end of next week.
"The grand jury issued arrest warrants for those who were charged. I am giving the defendants the opportunity to voluntarily surrender no later than noon on Friday, the 25th day of August 2023," Willis said.
Willis then ended the press conference with a reminder that an indictment is only a series of alleged charges based on probable cause from the grand jury's findings and that it's now her office's responsibility to prove those charges at trial.