Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Former US President Donald Trump has been handed an indictment from the state of Georgia with racketeering charges over his alleged obstruction of the 2020 election.
While this is not Trump’s first indictment as he faces charges in several other states, it continues raising doubts over the possibility that he will be able to run for the presidency in 2024.
On Tuesday, a Georgia grand jury used a law originally meant to take down organized crime organizations to charge Trump and 18 of his associates in a scheme intended to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
The racketeering charges could mean penalties of up to 20 years in prison for each of the individuals involved.
“Rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal, racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the charges forward, said at a press conference.
The charges date back to January 2021, when Trump asked Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s top election official, to “find 11,780 votes” to help him overturn the state’s election results, in which Biden won.
Also in January, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying Biden’s victory.
Trump has once again rejected the charges, taking to his social media website Truth Social.
“Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others – There will be a complete EXONERATION!” He wrote, saying that he plans a large report to be released next week on what he described as election fraud that took place in Georgia in 2020.
Read also: Trump Vs. the U.S. Government
In light of the new charges, many high-profile republicans –including top challenger for the presidency Ron DeSantis– have remained silent on the matter.
A few other Republican hopefuls have commented on the former president’s legal issues, with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson arguing that Trump should be disqualified from ever being president again.
“Over a year ago, I said that Donald Trump’s actions disqualified him from ever serving as President again,” Hutchinson said in an official statement. “These words are more true today than ever before.”
But other Republicans have taken Trump’s side. Fellow presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy slammed the authorities’ handling of the indictment, as its text had been posted online before the grand jury finished convening but later taken down.
