Former US President Trump indicted on election fraud, racketeering charges

Former United States President Donald Trump was on Tuesday indicted on charges bordering on a string of election crimes and racketeering after two years of intensive probe and investigation into his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden in the state of Georgia.

Trump as well as 18 of his personal staff are facing 13 new charges in Georgia stemming from his efforts to remain in power following the 2020 election.

According to reports in the US media, the 98-page indictment outlines Trump’s pressure campaign against election officials, a plot to submit false slates of electors and a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results in the state. Trump is also charged alongside the co-defendants.

Read also: Trump arrested in Manhattan, arraigned on 34-count charges

Federal prosecutors accuse Trump and his allies of attempting to overturn the election results by, among other things, encouraging state officials to violate their oaths of office, devising a plan to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors, intimidating an election worker and unlawfully breaching voting equipment.

The charge is designated a “serious felony” by the state, which as a status determined by sentence length, put it on par with other serious felonies such as robbery, kidnapping and murder.

Trump is already facing dozens of felony charges after being federally indicted over the alleged plot to subvert the election, and further prosecutions over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and keeping allegedly fraudulent business records.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now