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Former President Donald Trump looks on before the first round of the LIV Golf Bedminster golf tournament at Trump National Bedminster on August 11 2023 [Vincent Carchietta/USA Today Sports via Reuters]
By Linah Alsaafin, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours and Brian Osgood
Published On 15 Aug 2023

This blog is closed; thank you for joining us. These were the updates about former United States President Donald Trump’s indictment over 2020 election interference in the state of Georgia from Tuesday, August 15.

15 Aug 2023 - 19:25
 (19:25 GMT)

Georgia indictment details effort to access voter equipment

The Georgia indictment accuses four of the 19 defendants of trying to illegally access voting equipment after the 2020 election, underscoring that such efforts took place at all levels of government.

Prosecutors have accused lawyer and Trump ally Sidney Powell of ordering a computer forensics team to access voting equipment in Coffee County, Georgia, in the hopes of proving that the machines had been rigged against Trump.

The team arrived on January 7, 2021 — the day after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol — and made copies of ballots and confidential voting software, the indictment says.

“The one thing that Coffee County shows, and these other counties as well, is that the effort behind Jan 6 didn’t stop on Jan 6,” Lawrence Norden, an election security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s School of Law, told The Associated Press news agency.

“The ongoing effort to undermine and sabotage elections has continued.”

15 Aug 2023 - 18:49
 (18:49 GMT)

Republican analyst: ‘Long time’ before Trump could see jail time

Republican political analyst and lawyer Ross Feingold says that, while it is possible Trump could be found guilty in one of the numerous legal cases against him, it could be a long time before he sets foot in jail.

“It would take years before the appeals are exhausted, and again, if he’s president, he’s not going to go to jail whether it’s [a] federal or state [case],” Feingold said on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story news programme.

“State jail time might wait until he’s done being president. So this is really just the start of the beginning, and it would be a long long time before he would ever see a day in jail.”

15 Aug 2023 - 18:16
 (18:16 GMT)

Judge assigned to Georgia case, court documents show

Court records show the Georgia case has been assigned to Judge Scott McAfee, a former prosecutor appointed in February by Republican Governor Brian Kemp.

Unlike the federal courts where Trump is also awaiting trial, Georgia state courts allow television cameras, meaning the US public could possibly watch the former president’s trial live.

The Fulton County Sheriff previously said that Trump will receive no special treatment, indicating that the former president could have his mug shot taken.

15 Aug 2023 - 18:10
 (18:10 GMT)

Trump cannot seek pardon in Georgia case

The Georgia case presents an especially thorny problem for Trump, who cannot seek a presidential pardon as he has suggested in cases where he faces federal charges.

In the US, presidents have substantial power to pardon people accused of federal crimes. Several Republican presidential contenders have already said that, if elected, they would pardon Trump if he were found guilty of federal charges. But such powers do not apply to the state-level charges in Georgia.

Under the state’s constitution, the governor is also unable to issue pardons. A state-level independent board has the power to do so, but only five years after a sentence is served.

15 Aug 2023 - 17:50
 (17:50 GMT)

Trump aide pleads not guilty in classified documents case

Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira has pleaded not guilty to allegations he helped obstruct a federal investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents after his time in office expired.

De Oliveira appeared in a Florida courthouse earlier on Tuesday, where his lawyer Donnie Murrell entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

The case centres on allegations that Trump took classified documents out of the White House and stashed them in Mar-a-Lago. When federal authorities attempted to retrieve the records, Trump allegedly attempted to hide them with the help of his employees.

De Oliveira was allegedly involved in an attempt to delete security footage sought by government investigators.

Carlos De Oliveira, second from right, leaves the Alto Lee Adams Sr US Courthouse following his arraignment hearing on Tuesday in Fort Pierce, Florida [Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo]
15 Aug 2023 - 17:23
 (17:23 GMT)

Georgia governor shoots down Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims

Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, has criticised Trump for a social media post in which the former president said he would soon release a “conclusive” report showing that the state’s election had been “rigged” against him.

“The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen,” Kemp said in his own post on social media.

“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. The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus.”

15 Aug 2023 - 16:58
 (16:58 GMT)

Republican presidential contender calls charges ‘un-American’

Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott has said that the most recent charges against Trump represent the “legal system being weaponised against political opponents”, which he called “un-American and unacceptable”.

“At the end of the day, we need a better system than that,” Scott told reporters when pressed for comment on the indictment.

When asked about a phone call that figures at the heart of the Georgia case, in which Trump asked Georgia’s top election official to “find” the votes he would need to win the state, Scott said he had heard the call but drew “different conclusions”.

15 Aug 2023 - 16:22
 (16:22 GMT)

Staunch Trump supporters will be undeterred by indictment: Ex-GOP lawmaker

Trump’s staunchest supporters will be undeterred by the Georgia indictment and continue to back the former president, Amy Koch, a former Republican state senator in Minnesota has said.

“For the [Make America Great Again] base, this will have no impact on that – and it’s really their energy that is driving this election moving forward,” Koch told Al Jazeera.

“These are folks that feel like the government has played against them for so long, that they have been marginalised for decades. It tends to be [a] more disenfranchised voter that Trump has really given a voice to.”

15 Aug 2023 - 15:58
 (15:58 GMT)

Georgia’s use of RICO law could be challenged: AJ correspondent

Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Atlanta, has said it is possible that Georgia’s use of a racketeering law – known as RICO – in the Trump election interference case could be challenged in court.

“If that portion of the case were invalidated, the entire case could unravel,” Hendren said.

“This is a case in which 19 defendants are all banded together, with 41 charges against them, and there’s a lot of room for complexity in that.”

Georgia’s RICO Act, adopted in 1980, makes it a crime to participate in, acquire or maintain control of an “enterprise” through a “pattern of racketeering activity” or to conspire to do so. A scheme does not have to have been successful for a RICO charge to stick.

15 Aug 2023 - 15:39
 (15:39 GMT)

Rudy Giuliani raising funds after Georgia indictment

Former Trump lawyer and New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani – who was indicted in the Georgia case – has appealed for donations to help fight what he says is an attempt to punish him for his “loyalty to President Trump and the truth”.

Giuliani posted a link on social media to a new website, dubbed the “Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund”.

“Rudy’s fate will determine if America still is a Republic governed by We The People, or if the swamp has finally amassed total control of our great country. That’s why Rudy urgently needs YOUR help as he battles for his freedom and justice,” the website reads.

Giuliani speaks to Trump supporters during a rally in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, just before the US Capitol riot [File: Jim Bourg/Reuters]
15 Aug 2023 - 15:18
 (15:18 GMT)

‘World is watching’ after Trump indictment: AJ columnist

The Georgia indictment against Trump – and whether or not the former president will be punished – could affect the US’s credibility around the world, writes Al Jazeera columnist Ahmadi Ali.

“Diplomatically, subjecting a former leader to the rule of law may be embarrassing for America in the short term, but it would establish the US as truly dedicated to its vision of governance in global affairs,” according to Ali, an executive fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and an analyst at Gulf State Analytics.

Read more here.

15 Aug 2023 - 14:54
 (14:54 GMT)

A timeline of past US presidential scandals

Trump is the first former president in US history to face criminal charges, as the Republican politician now faces four separate indictments, including the latest in the state of Georgia.

But other past US presidents were not without their own political scandals.

Read more about some of the issues that plagued previous US presidents, here.

Former US President Richard Nixon faced one of the biggest political scandals in US history, known as Watergate [File: AP Photo]
15 Aug 2023 - 14:37
 (14:37 GMT)

Ex-Trump lawyer indicted in Georgia says prosecutor ‘criminalising’ rule of law

Jenna Ellis, a former Trump lawyer indicted in the Georgia case, has accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Democrats of “criminalizing the practice of law”.

“I am resolved to trust the Lord and I will simply continue to honor, praise, and serve Him. I deeply appreciate all of my friends who have reached out offering encouragement and support,” Ellis wrote on social media.

15 Aug 2023 - 14:07
 (14:07 GMT)

Republican presidential challengers muted on Trump indictment

Trump’s top challenger for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has not commented publicly on the former president’s new criminal indictment in Georgia.

But a few other GOP hopefuls have weighed in, including Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who said in a statement that Trump should be disqualified “from ever holding our nation’s highest office again”.

Vivek Ramaswamy, another Republican presidential candidate, slammed the indictment as “disastrous”. “It’s downright pathetic that Fulton County publicly posted the indictment on its website even before the grand jury had finished convening,” he wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

 

15 Aug 2023 - 13:35
 (13:35 GMT)

‘Witch hunt’: Trump hits out at Georgia case

Trump has again rejected the case against him in Georgia, saying he is the victim of a “witch hunt”.

The former Republican president also said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he plans to present a “large, complex, detailed but irrefutable” report next week on the 2020 election fraud that he says took place in Georgia.

“Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others – There will be a complete EXONERATION!” Trump wrote.

There has been no evidence of widespread election fraud in Georgia.

15 Aug 2023 - 13:15
 (13:15 GMT)

Georgia trial could stretch through 2024 election: Expert

Claire Finkelstein, founder of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, has said the Georgia case is “extremely complex” and could take a long time in the courts.

That is in contrast to the federal case in which Trump is also accused of meddling in the 2020 election, where prosecutors have said they are seeking a speedy trial.

“We could see this [Georgia] trial, which will be extremely complex, going on right through the election,” Finkelstein told Al Jazeera.

15 Aug 2023 - 12:15
 (12:15 GMT)

How Trump uses indictments to fund his presidential campaign

Each time Donald Trump is indicted – and that has now happened four times since March – he raises serious campaign cash and gets a bump in opinion polls.

The Republican’s campaign team announced they had raised more than $4m in 24 hours after his first indictment in March in New York, over hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Team Trump also boasted about raising nearly $7m after he was charged in federal court in Florida in June over his handling of top-secret classified documents – the first time a sitting or former commander-in-chief has ever faced federal charges.

(Al Jazeera)

But even if Trump and his entourage are happy to brag about their fundraising successes on the back of his mounting legal problems, these cases are a double-edged sword.

The candidate has had no choice but to dip into the campaign coffers to pay millions of dollars in legal fees linked to the indictments – money that could have otherwise been used for television ads, rallies or campaign swings nationwide.

“His legal expenses are through the roof. Trump has already spent a large percentage of his contributions on legal expenses,” Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, told AFP.

“And those expenses will only go up for months and months, maybe years, to come.”

15 Aug 2023 - 11:55
 (11:55 GMT)

What are the next steps in Trump’s criminal case in Georgia?

The likelihood of the latest indictment against Donald Trump going to trial will depend on whether new legal questions could slow down prosecution due to the unprecedented nature of the case.

But first, there will be a formal reading of the charges in court, and defendants will be asked to enter pleas.

Trump’s lawyer could ask the court to waive the arraignment, and he could enter a plea of not guilty without having to appear in court. Bail would also be determined.

The former president would probably be released in exchange for a promise to return to face the charges at trial. He will have his mugshot taken upon being taken into custody.

Read more here.

15 Aug 2023 - 11:00
 (11:00 GMT)

Co-defendants should ‘tell the truth’, expert strategist says

Steve Okun, a senior adviser at the geostrategic consultancy firm McLarty Associates, said the latest indictment against Donald Trump is more worrying than his other three criminal cases.

“While all the trials might play out until after the election, this is a state court action in Georgia where there’s no ability for the new president to pardon the former president, or to turn this investigation off,” he told Al Jazeera.

Speaking about the 18 other co-defendants indicted in the Georgia election interference case, Okun said they have the chance to tell the truth.

“There are many players in this including his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and lawyers outside of Trump’s remit like Rudy Giuliani and Kenneth Chesebro who came up with the fake collector scheme which was also illegal and in a way to try to overturn this election,” he said.

“So all of those people have to ask themselves: do I tell the truth about what happened or do I go along with Donald Trump and continue to say this was a big lie, this is a witch-hunt, and the prosecutor is a racist?”

(Al Jazeera)
15 Aug 2023 - 09:36
 (09:36 GMT)

What is the RICO law and how does it apply to Trump and his allies?

The federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) originated in 1970 as a tool to fight organised crime.

The law enabled prosecutors to target people in positions of authority within a criminal organisation, not just lower-level people doing the dirty work.

Generally speaking, RICO laws allow prosecutors to charge multiple people who commit separate crimes while working towards a common goal.

Read more here.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the Des Moines International Airport after a visit to the Iowa State Fair on August 12, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa [Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo]