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Former US President Donald Trump and several of his allies were indicted on Monday night in Georgia following a lengthy investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in the southern state.
The grand jury indictment against Trump is the fourth brought against the Republican politician this year. It could also lead to the first televised trial of a former president.
Trump already faces three other criminal indictments, including once by US Special Counsel Jack Smith on charges of trying to overturn his election defeat.
What is Trump charged with?
Trump was charged with several felony counts, including conspiracy to commit forgery and impersonate a public official.
He also faces a charge of racketeering, which is used in cases to take down organized crime groups.
The indictments also named several co-defendants within Trump’s circle, including his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, as well as the president’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
What happened in Georgia?
The case stems from a January 2, 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Georgia’s top election official, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to reverse his narrow loss in the state. Raffensperger declined to do so.
President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes during the 2020 election.
Four days later, on January 6, 2021, and two weeks before Trump was due to leave office, his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying Biden’s victory.
Trump is the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. He has long dismissed the many investigations he has faced in his years in politics as a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
dh/rs (AP, AFP, Reuters)
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