Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240704

Georgia, he met Misty Hampton, and somehow got her number and went back to the white house with it. And that was someone that they were on the phone with very quickly after that, obviously trying to get access to the Voting Software and Coffee County. When meadows went on to georgia, the Misty Hampton Coffee County story is interesting, just to remind folks of that story. Which cnn broke yesterday. And caitlin, you will jump in if i get any of this wrong. But it seems as though Coffee County Election Officials invited Trump Campaign officials to basically have access to their Voting Machines. Which according to prosecutors who is not illegal, is that right . Yes, it is not illegal. And she is somebody who basically had written this statement in and all of our colleagues are people who broke this fascinating story. But she had basically written the invitation to come and view the software, which they are not allowed to do. Those are messages that were then transmitted to Trump Campaign officials. There were a group of texts that we know prosecutors, investigators here got their hand. On where they are saying, oh, we have talked to this election official, referencing Misty Hampton. We are going to get access to this. And that was something they tried to work on really quickly. It also just, speaks jake, to how broad this probe is. I mean, these are the people that jeff duncan was talking about. They used to be respected republican officials in georgia. And they are part of this probe, and now they are named in this 98page indictment. All right, kaitlan collins, we are now going to turn to this 98page indictment. 19 individuals, 41 different charges. Anderson, we are gonna go through this while you talk about. Go ahead. Yes, a lot to go through, we are looking at a live shot from the courthouse in atlanta. Fulton county d. A. Fani willis is expected to be, surely you see of the podium. Justice correspondent now, i know you have had some time to look at this. Talk about what youre seen. , anderson one of the interesting things that stands out is that what fani willis here, with the dea in Fulton County has done here beyond the scope of just the acts that occurred in the state of georgia. For example, there is here an eye view discount, six solicitation of the Vice President of the united states. Where she is at least going through the narration of, you know, the efforts by the former president to try to get evs president to set aside the Election Results in all of these seven states, right . And so thats, one of the things that we all thought perhaps that there would, that this case would really just bore down on everything that happened in georgia. Not only Coffee County, the example of trying to access the Voting Machines there. But also the infamous phone call to the Secretary Of State down there in georgia. And also just in the filing of statements to the state legislator, to the courts down in georgia what she has done here, by presenting this is some of the efforts that went to be on the state of georgia. So this is a much broader picture than even what we saw in the Jackson Smith case. In some ways, because they are now going into chapter and verse of what the former president and his allies were doing around the country. Again, the anchor of this is what happened in georgia. But, you know, as you read through this, you are listing some of the other places where people who were involved in some of these, in other states as well. Certainly for us, when we were thinking how this could come forward. We were thinking they could limit themselves to just discreet things in georgia. From reading this, it appears what they have done is gone much broader than we first anticipated. And we are showing an image of the county clerks hand got some documents to those in the courthouse to our reporters and others, we are expecting to hear from funny willis at any moment, julie sense of how much detail she will go into . We dont yet, anderson, we do know that one of the things that she obviously has to be mindful of is the fact that this is a case that is now in the hands of the court. And she is going to, have this is going to go trial. That is the intent here. So we anticipate that she is going to keep her comments for absolutely more broad, maybe underscoring the importance of bringing this case. Why this case is being brought. The message that she wants to bring forward. Why is doing in the first, place obviously two years after this investigation. Maybe respond a little bit to some of the attacks from the former president , and keep it at the, level simply because this case has to be tried in before a jury, she has to get a jury seated in Fulton County, georgia. 41 different counts to this indictment, i, mean this is a sprawling indictment . It really is former president after to remain in office. We have to get these Fake Electors targets to this investigation one of the ones overshooting that effort. , less people put on notice, that they were part of this investigation. Georgia, frankly, we know a lot more of. Because there was a recording of that phone call to the Georgia State officials, and the reporting we got in the last few days from zack cohen. And some of the work that the January 6th Committee did to investigate what happened down there. Of course, the Coffee County efforts to try to get to Voting Machines. While the, way that was replicated around the country. So it is possible that we are gonna see investigators in arizona, in other states, find that there were similar efforts there. And perhaps they may be able to bring charges against people. Because, again, what the key here is, you know, if you dont have the authorization to get to those Voting Machines, you cannot do that. And that is where what seems to be part of what the prosecutors in georgia are doing here. Anderson . Im gonna give you a chance to go back and read more. There is obviously very big indictment. It is. Evan, well check back with you shortly as we wait here, back with van jones, ironic, michael more, and david urban. Michael, elie, i will share with you from just a attorneys perspective. Michael, i dont know if you have had a chance to look at anything, but what do you make of how big talk about a bigger scheme, that one of the people and sort of dirty each of the defendants with what the other persons conduct is. So, you know, it looks also to me toptier targets. Folks who shed like to see in a courtroom, and then she has got some people down that i might call a second tier, squeeze a little bit to get them to cooperate at some point to save themselves a trip to the jail. Since the details there, its clearly going to tell the tale as we go through it. But they lay out plenty of predicate action relates to the recourse at you, thats for sure. Michael, there is no doubt that some of the lower Hanging Fruit maybe, or the, i dont want to say smaller fish in this, she would like them to turn . I think that is absolutely right. I mean, this is how you start to put pressure. You can bring to a grand jury, even talk about im in a do this to you are that to you, but once you name them in a case, once you lost a man and i turned grandeur Egfrs Robocalls of a committed some, crime thats a pretty great pressure. A specially on people who may want to, you know, and people or people who have not been exposed to the calista metal, this is their chance to try to cooperate. Yes, elie. I know you have had a chance to go through a little bit. , anderson i want to talk about the Racketeering Charge, called wrecked legal cover short. And one of the indictment, its really sort of the centerpiece of the indictment. Now, its important that people know that this count, if there is a convention, it carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison for anyone who gets convicted. A maximum of 20 years. Now all 19 defendants have been named in this racketeering count. The indictment alleges that donald trump and the people around him were a criminal enterprise, the same way that the state has used a lot to go after street gangs. And public unions and other corrupt organizations. What you to do within a Racketeering Charge is lay out your racketeering acts, and this indictment lays out 161 different racketeering acts. Meaning 161 different illegal acts that were not in furtherance of that interest. Ive been more we go charges that i can remember, reckon that risky anywhere near that number. And they break down just generally, im not going to go 161 through. But to basically these eight large categories. False statements made to the state legislature, we know for example that Rudy Giuliani went and lied to the Georgia State senate. Well statement made to state officials, for example, donald trump sent a letter to Brad Raffensperger at one point saying, basically, there has been massive fraud and you need to do something about it. The Fake Electors scheme is number three. Number four, really interesting to me, harassment of election workers. Miss freeman and miss, moss they are named in this indictment as victims of one of the racketeering acts. And then solicitation of the justice department. We saw that in jacks mitts indictment. We attempt to sort of weaponize the doj to give some credence to these bogus claims of election fraud. Next solicitation of the Vice President , mike pence, to violate his duties. And then the last two are breach of the Voting Machines. Which we just reported, i think exclusively here on cnn, had a or two ago, that is now one of the bases for these Racketeering Charge. And, finally a fairly broad range of obstruction of justice, allegations. So that is the centerpiece of this indictment, that is what is going to drive this case here, and that is count one of his indictment. So when there is 161 racketeering ups, is that, i, mean are each of those a crime . Alleged crime . Yes, well, yes, they are illegal acts. In furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy. Its important to note. Not all 19 defendants are listed and accused of all 161 acts. But all you have to show as a prosecutor, and this is part of the beauty of regalist, at any one of these individuals was part of the enterprise, and committed two or more interconnected acts. So yes, the allegation here is that this rico charge, this Racketeering Charge it breaks down into 161 separate legal components. Ali, just, i mean, with, you have 19 people charged, they are not all going to be tried at once . I highly doubt it. They would be like a giant courtroom . Well, the first problem is logistical. I dont know where you would have to try that where the Atlanta Braves player something. I mean, there is just no place that they can do that. But one of the Big Questions moving forward is what we call severance. So we have 19 defendants in this indictment. So the question will be, how are we going to break these defendants up for trial . Theoretically you could do 19 separate trials, i dont think anyone wants that. But that is going to be something that the parties argue. And they may not agree on, it and that will ultimately be within the judges discretion. Could some of these charges against some of these individuals go through even if the trial for the former president is, you, know they make an agreement with federal prosecutors that this will be lost in the line . Yeah, for, sure there is no rule saying that the first person on the indictment in this case donald trump has to be tried first. And if it plays out than donald trump has too many other cases they have to deal, with including the federal cases, it could be that Donald Trumps trial gets pushed off until after the 2024 election. But in the meantime, fani willis doesnt have to wait, she can start trying the other people is that here. Yeah, want to check in with paul reid who has been pouring over the documents as well. Paula . Anderson, reading through, this its really interesting how fani willis tells the story of her case, the average, go to the average american. Here she lays out a theory of the case that the former president and his codefendants, in addition to Unindicted Coconspirator, she describes them for the sake of prosecutor rico as a unit. And then she lays out how she believes they carried out this conspiracy. She focuses on several key aspects. The first is, of course, the Fake Electors plot. We have reported extensively on this. This was an effort to undermine the Electoral College. By putting forth slates of Fake Electors. Now they also include the harassment of election worker ruby freeman. Now it is not clear what she is included, and she mosque, a fellow election worker in this state who has also been facing some of the same harassment. Why she is not included. Again, im only on page 16 of anti. Eight but they also talk about soliciting the justice department, we know the former president tried to use his own justice department, top officials there, to help him overturn the election. They also talk about soliciting the Vice President. We know and have extensively reported the Pressure Campaign that former Vice President mike pence was facing. The pressure that he faced not only from former President Trump, but from other people, encouraging him to overturn the election and not to certify the results in president bidens favor. They also talk about breaching voting systems, and also filing false statements. So at a very high level, these are the categories that they believe these defendants allegedly engaged in a conspiracy. And that only takes you about a fifth of the way through the indictment. And then you get into the real nittygritty. But the average person who reads that should be able to at least understand, at a highlevel, a conspiracy that fani willis is alleging here . Paula, i will let you go back to the document, i want to go back to cnns sara murphy who is inside the courthouse. In a room or fani willis is expected to speak shortly. You have a sense of when she is gonna come . Well, anderson, she should be out here sometime in roughly the next five minutes. I think they are aiming for about 11 20 to get the started. And, again this is the district ernie who is already facing a lot of criticism, especially from Donald Trumps legal team. Public remarks that she has made on this case. So far, now that we have this 98page indictment released, we have these 19 defendants. She certainly has more that she is able to talk about i. Mean, even if she sticks within the four corners of this indictment, i think as you have heard from a number of our other reporters, a number of our other guests, this is very detailed. This is a granular indictment. And i think that is what this just Returnees Office was laboring for. We know the level of scrutiny they have been under, they know this is an investigation, that has spanned for two and a half years. And why people expected to see something that was reflected of that. So we are gonna wait to see exactly what she has to say tonight about the state of the case, about the state of the investigation. And we are also gonna wait to see, frankly, what the next steps are here. This is a little bit different than what we have seen in federal court. You know, other courts where we have seen the indictment unsealed. And then donald trump immediately shows up, he surrenders. He is arraigned. That is not necessarily how that will work in a state court. We dont know when donald trump or other defendants would be expected to surrender. Frankly, when they would be called to appear in court is going to be up to the judge who is assigned to this case. So we are also gonna be looking for next steps as to how this is going to proceed. Anderson . Theyre, murphy about three minutes we expect fani willis or seven lets go up to. Jake all, right anderson, we are pouring over these documents, he didnt really get a lot of time, i, mean there is 41 counts here. You have got 161 acts just in count one. Pardon me, led to me, who wants to go first. Jamie, laura coates, okay, laura coates. One of the things that is remarkable to me is that a lot of the stuff we knew about, and now they are being charged with it. For instance, then President Trump trying to prevail on a leader in the georgia legislator, two concession to overturn election. That is solicitation of a violation of an oath of a public officer, and donald trump is charged with that as one of the counts in this 41 count indictment. There is so much stunning information, the sheer volume, just think about jack smiths indictment compared to the exponential indictment that we see here. Not only in terms of the number of people who have been indicted, but the act that are actually charged. A couple of key points here, first of all, when it comes to rico, this has broadened translate that for the people at home. Rico is, well, rico was a fancy way of saying, look, a whole lot bunch of people got together, they got together and coordinated a conspiracy, the Conspiracy On Steroids as my friend norm eisen likes to say. Its a way of participating in crimes, two or more in georgia, as part of an overall plan. They overall connection, really, is that you all engage in criminal behavior. You need to not have direct connection with one another, as long as you are part of an overall conspiracy or actual enterprise. Think about the common mafia case, right . Where you have got one person who is kind of a ringleader, a puppeteer as you will. Everyone attached to that strain involved in the entire theater really is going to be an issue here. The reason this is so important to hear is that normally a prosecutor only has the Jury Selection in their own specific area. They have to be near sighted for justices to prevail, rico allows you to be broader. Because whatever you have engaged in, criminal behavior, that really had an impact in my jurisdiction. Whether it happened out of state, whether it was different counties, whether it was something in a different, you know, region of the country. It all can count towards my rico case. So it does. That also, whats really interesting here is, look at the attorneys that are named in this indictment . So many attorneys. So many. Attorneys john eastman, sydney powell, Rudy Giuliani. Just to name a few. Its a motley crue of attorneys, and remember, one of the defense weve been seeings defensive council. I was following the advice of counsel here, so i was really doing. Think about the different schemes that are at play, and that are being charged. What this does now, well have them being charged, is that it puts at odds with donald trump with his counsel. Because at some point, a Fact Finding Mission has to ensue where you have to prove that this was either about his counsel or not. And finally, unlike the other indictments that we have seen, which we compared a lot, you have actual speech in the form of tweets and social media by the former president. There will now be an invitation at this point to talk about the First Amendment considerations here that you did not have any jacks mitt indictment election interference. Because now, you can foresee donald trump and company saying, hold on, the statements that i made, this is political speech. Right, but that will obviously be his defense. You were talking about the rico statute, and that is the first count, the racketeering statue. And there are 161 different acts in that statute, you want to jump in here . Yes, laura is absolutely right on this, the significance of we go. But the very basics of how to prove it are similar to the federal system. The georgia authorities have to prove the existence of an enterprise, which is simply a relationship between the coconspirators. That is easy here. We all saw it, they gave Press Conferences together, they showed up at state legislative hearings and testified and provided false information. So that half of the case will not be heard. The second thing you have to prove is that each member of the rideau count, you have, i think, 19 people who are charged under the rideau statue. Each one has to be proven to have committed at least two Predicate Acts. And in georgia, unlike the federal system, the rico statue provides 40 separate predicate apps. So what you have here in acts 131 through one 61, these are the individual predicate criminal acts that the prosecutors will attempt to prove Beyond A Reasonable Doubt to a jury. Importantly, lets say Rudy Giuliani, i dont know how many hes actually charged with here, how many acts that are attributed to him. But they only need to prove to. Yes, and abby, you were going through these acts, and, you know, one of the things we were wondering about is how many, how much newer are we gonna learn. Given how public this, is given that this is not even the first indictment having to do with Donald Trumps alleged attempts to steal an election. We what will we learn that is new . And you quickly found something that we had not heard of when it comes to act 19 in the 161 actually count. This goes back to december, it says that donald trump and mark meadows, his chief of staff, directed johnny mcentee, john mcentee, who is a senior official in the white house at the time, to come up with a plan to disrupt and delay the january 6th proceedings. To me that really struck out because rarely do we see in documents trump directed so and so to do something very specific. And in this case, it was something that was clearly written. It was a written planned to disrupt january 6th. And that goes against a lot of the arguments that you hear from trumps attorneys. Which is that this is all spontaneous, and he was just using speech, and that he was just saying things and people did things. And how was he to know that they were trying to actually stop the proceedings. We dont know where that document said. Somebody had to do with mike pence, which we know all about trumps efforts to get france to do things that he was not legally able to do on that day. With the idea of trump directing, Trump And Meadows who was indicted here, directing a plan going way beyond december for january 6th, and that being part of this indictment here in georgia, it puts an amber alert over a lot of these charges. Yes, we should note, jaime can go, there are 30 Unindicted Coconspirators, 30 Unindicted Coconspirators. And maybe more. So we talked about the Special Counsels indictment as supposedly the mother of all speaking indictments. This one goes to a whole new level. And in addition to what he were mentioning, which is 30 uninvited coconspirators. As you go through this, you find page after page, if you look at page 15, the defendants as well as others not named. You know, as you go through there are more and more people were not named to be confident they are, we dont know if they are cooperating. One thing i just want to make sure my viewers know, if you are just joining, us we are waiting for the District Attorney of Fulton County, fani willis, to come before the cameras and speak. She might take some questions from reporters who are there. We are covering this historic news of this indictment of donald trump. And it never individuals, 41 counts. Including racketeering, a rico count that all 19 vigils, including donald trump, pregiuliani, sydney, powell and others are included in gloria . After reading, this there is no, do you, know the question we have all been asking is, did trump direct this . And anyway . Or were people doing this on trumps behalf because they really thought that he had won the election. Over, and over, and over again. We see phone calls that the president made. And every time, for example, a phone call, which we knew about, to the georgia governor brian kemp. And the, this indictment that says solicited, requested and importuned, kemp called the Special Counsel of the georgia assembly. The phrase that is used over and over again is that this was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Yes and thats interesting, because there are so many counts here in which donald trump have about lying. And so this we have known many times, is not a lie, it is not a crime to lie to the press and it is not a crime to lie to the public. But to lie to officials, which is the theory of the case anyway, to lie to officials in furtherance of a conspiracy, or collide to the public in furtherance of a conspiracy, fani willis is suggesting that that is a crime. Because, its not just forgery which is obviously a very specific crime, having to do with in writing, for instance, the fickle actors. But they cite all sorts of lies and Conspiracy Theories that giuliani, trump, and others said. And they are saying of that is a false statement in this scheme and this theory. Its the simple act of stating that lie. Or the act of asking another to lie, and other words, asking another to reconvene the Pennsylvania State legislature, and nominate a new slate of electors. Whats interesting to me about this indictment is that it is unbelievably granular, but not in the same way that the federal january 6th indictment to us. Do you remember that indictment . Its really told a coherent narrative across 50 or so pages. Here you have essentially a list of isolated acts that qualify as Predicate Acts of under the rico statute. So there can be as simple as left a voice mail message, had a phone call or made a statement at a Press Conference. Or a meeting of the state legislature. So they all kind of Stand Independent of each other and provide ample opportunity for prosecutors to prove this case. So many of these stories that we know the story, count 28 of the 41 counts, count 28, is that phone call that donald trump placed to Brad Raffensperger, the superior state, in which he asked him to, quote unquote, to find 11,780 votes. One more than the margin of victory joe biden had. That is county, Donald J Trump and Mark Randele Meadows are charged with the offensive solicitation of a violation of oath by public officer, referring to Brad Raffensperger, very specifically. The case that we heard from Coffee Countys sydney powell and others whose names might not be as familiar to people, with the Offensive Conspiracy to commit election fraud. And this has to do with sydney powell entering into a contract and causing employees of this firm, this law firm, where i think it is the law, from sullivan strickler, to travel from atlanta to Coffee County, quote, for the purpose of willfully tampering with assad electronic ballots markers. And toppling machines which were overt acts to affect the object of the conspiracy. So here all of these new stories, plus one cnn broke yesterday. All of these news stories that we thought were fishy, and Funny Melissa saying that it is not just fishy, thats a crime. Yes, and it goes, you think about just, if people are wondering, what could take so long in order to have the investigation . Look at the nuance and the specificity that is required here to prove ones burden of proof at the probable cause level, by the way. Alone in the actual trial. One thing to really keep in mind here is that they are not just talking about false statements in the sense of, you know, to the average person. They are also incorporating in some of these counts statements made to the representatives themselves. And one issue, count 7 40, one to the georgia. House president of the House Governmental Affairs committee. Lies told to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee meetings, statements were made to people, including felons, they claimed to have been illegally voting. Underage persons illegally voting. People who are not otherwise on the registry, people who had used a post office box. There is that mailin ballot nation that was a popular talking point. Even list more than 10,000 or more dead people voted in the election. They are making these statements not just to the press, not just to the average person, but in the hopes of soliciting a change on behalf of elected officials. It is a second to green level, they are going to try and prove it about ones attempt to disenfranchise voters and undermine democracy. We are told at this Press Conference is gonna begin any minute now, the district area for upton county formulas talking to reporters. Something very interesting, jamie gangel, enact, 90 you are way ahead of you me. Of the rico statue, i, mean this is, guess who the Unindicted Coconspirator is . This talks about that meeting that we have been reporting on now for more than a year almost, two years, the 18 today of, december 2024, trump meets with giuliani, sydney powell, and others to talk about seizing Voting Machines. This is in the white house, okay . It says that along with trump, giuliani, and bowel, is, quote, Unindicted Coconspirator, individual 20. Whose identity is known to the grand prix we have an idea well, your guess is . My guess is that in those meetings where members of the White House Counsels Office but they wouldnt be, it wouldnt be Unindicted Coconspirators . Michael flynn was also in that room and also the guy from we are the taliban mike flynn were in the room, and they are not listed as indicted. Somebody who was Unindicted Coconspirator individual 20 was there. Does that mean, possibly, that one of those individuals since they are not listed in the indictment is cooperating . Entirely possible, we dont know for sure. But, you know, the question is, why are they, Unindicted Coconspirator, and people here, why are there 21 . Exactly, and the obvious example is that they came in and cooperated and received some sort of benefit for that. But again, we dont know. We dont know. But we do know the facts about that meeting. Can i be a, cooperative is who we are, cleared to be a cooperator you have to give me as the prosecutor information. Information i can get nowhere. Also not about trying to do favors for someone, do people have this conception, of, oh theyre cooperator, okay, sign up and we will put you in. There has to be an Interest Worth pursuing justice, the information you can provide or cooperate another key witness is so essential that i am willing to give you a kind of immunity. For the decency of saying Unindicted Coconspirator. So is It Information that you cant get anywhere . Else because obviously we know some individuals from the White House Counsels Office who were telling trump, you cant seize these machines. And there was never any inkling that they had gone done anything wrong. Or is it that the witness has to be somebody from inside the, quote unquote, conspiracy. Use testimony might be there for more valuable . Is that possible . It has to be the information, it has to be the credibility attached to that person. And it has to be somebody who can, frankly, undermine the credibility of another witness. Otherwise, i wouldnt be able to use your. Because if there is nothing valuable, inherently valuable about your testimony. And whats valuable for a grand jury, let alone a child jury, is that i am going to get firsthand information from somebody whose credibility cannot be changed. They can be challenged, in terms, of you know, despite the unsympathetic person. But that this is a person who had either firsthand knowledge, was able to fill in the gap for me, or is somebody who can be persuasive in a truth telling. Can i just to the point of filling in the, gap we know that that meeting became famous for the Shouting Match that went on. Right. Also the deranged idea of seizing Voting Machines. Lets not sleep on that one. Lets assume for a moment that the Unindicted Coconspirator was not anybody from the white House Counsel was saying that this was crazy. However, they werent always in the they were not, they may not have known what was going on before the meeting happened. Or after the meeting happened. Right, there you. Go to lauras points about gaps that could be filled. One quick thing, Rudy Giuliani is all over this indictment. I do not read as quickly as you, jake. I am only on page 24. There, are i think there are 16 to 18 mentions of him already. Also, jenna alice is repeatedly here. And then just one other thing, we have been talking about it, what georgia has. The males, documents, text messages. Tapes. It was also the phone call, but it was also pointed out to me that Donald Trumps public statements, his social media posts, they all can and will be used against him. And theyre in. Theyre just because you do it in plain sight. So, for example, on page 20, four act 22, on about the third day of december, 2020, Donald John Trump caused tweeted from the account at real donald trump, quote, Georgia Hearings now on at oann, amazing and quote. And then, the indictment goes on to say, this was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. So thats the key phrase, throughout the whole thing, this was not just something that happened by coincidence, kind of reminds me of people on january 6th saying, you know, it was like a Tourist Walk In The Park up there on january 6th. That this all just sort of fell together and wasnt planned. This says that all of these phone calls, these, i dont know how many phone calls donald trump made, could have been a, hundred who knows. They were overt, and they were all done with one thing in mind. Okay, i hate to interrupt, but here is the District Attorney, fani willis. And her team, they are walking into the room to speak. Lets listen in. Thank you for joining us. I am here with the prosecutors and investigators who have worked diligently on the investigation of criminal attempts to interfere in the administration of georgias 2020 president ial election. Today, based on information developed by that investigation, a Fulton County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment. Charging 19 individuals with violations of georgia law, arising from a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 president ial election in this state. The indictment includes 41 felony counts, and is 97 pages long. The please remember that everyone charged in this bill of indictment is presumed innocent. Specifically, the indictment brings Felony Charges against Donald John Trump, rudolph William Lewis giuliani, john charles eastman, marc randele meadows, john cheeseborough, jeffrey clark, jenna lyn ellis, Ray Stallings smith the third, robert david chilly, michael a roman, david james schaffer, sean micah pressure steel, Stephen Clifford lee, Harrison William prescott floyd, treveyon see kuti, sydney kathrin powell, Kathleen Austin latham. Scott graham hall, and Misty Hampton, also known as emily misty hayes. Every individual charged in the indictment is charged with one count of violation of georgias racketeer, influenced, and corrupt organization act. Through participation in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, georgia. And elsewhere, to accomplish the legal goal of allowing Donald J Trump to seize the president ial term of office, beginning on january 20th, 2021. Specifically, the participants in aca shun took various actions in georgia and elsewhere to block the county of the votes of the president ial electors, who were certified as the winners of georgias 2020 general election. As you examine the indictment, you will see, acts that are identified as overt acts, and those that are identified as Predicate Acts. Sometimes cold acts of Racketeering Activity. Overt acts are not necessarily crimes under georgia law in isolation. But are alleged to be acts taken in further runs of the conspiracy. Many occurred in georgia, and some occurred in other jurisdictions and are included because The Grand Jury believes that they were part of the illegal effort to overturn the results of georgias 2020 president ial election. He acts identified as Predicate Acts, were acts of Racketeering Activity are crimes that are alleged to have been committed in furtherance of the criminal enterprise. Acts of Racketeering Activity are also charged as separate counts in the indictment against those who are alleged to have committed them. 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. That includes elections for president ial electors, congress, state officials, and local offices. The states role in this process is essential to the functioning of our democracy. Georgia, like every state, has laws that allow those who believe that results of an election are wrong, whether because of intentional wrongdoing, or unintentional error, to challenge those results in our state courts. The indictment alleges that rather than abide by georges Legal Process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a Criminal Racketeering Enterprise to overturn georgias president ial election result. Subsequent to the indictment, as is the normal process in georgia law, 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. I remind everyone here that an indictment is only a series of allegations based on a grand jurys determination of probable cause to support the charges. It is now the duty of my office to prove these charges in the indictment Beyond A Reasonable Doubt at trial. I would like to take a moment to think the Superior Court Clerk shea alexander, and her staff, for staying late and making sure that this indictment was processed. I would also like to think the Men And Women Of Sheriff Allots office for keeping the courthouse open, but most importantly for keeping us safe over the weeks and months that have led up to this indictment. And for what they will continue to do to keep us safe. We also want to thank the Atlanta Police department and other Law Enforcement departments who have worked with the sheriff to keep a status. I will now take in a very limited number of questions, prior to going to sleep. If you dont mind. Seven elevens. Could you clarify in georgia the mandatory minimum when it comes to rico charges, whether it is servile via probation or how that might play out . The rico charges has time that you have to serve, so its not a pro baited sentence. District attorney, what does the timetable for the trial . What does the timetable for the trial . As you know, in this jurisdiction, trials are set by the judges and so it will be the judge that sets the date of the trial. This office will be submitting a proposed schedule an order within this week. However, that will totally be at the destruction of the judge. You are the fourth jurisdiction now to indict donald trump. Do you believe you need to be the fourth one to try him, or would you move him up . Could you be the first to try him . I dont have any desire to be first or last, i want to try him and the respectable for our sovereign states. We do want to move this case along, and so we will be asking for a proposed order that occurs, a trial date within the next six months. Earlier today there was a document, according to the Fulton County office, that was circulated online with charges against former President Trump. That fictitious document matched exactly the charges that we now see in this indictment. Can you tell us more about that Document Leak because now you have the former president s lawyers who are saying that this is emblematic of a serious problem with your office. No, i cant tell you anything about what you referred to. What i can tell you that we had a grand jury in Fulton County, they deliberated until almost 8 00 its not right after it clock, and an indictment was returned. It was true build and you now have an indictment. I am not an expert on clerks duties, or even administrative duties. I would know how to work that system, so im not going to speculate. Next question. Have you had any contact with the Special Counsel about overlap between these cases and do you intend to try all of these defendants together . Do i intend to try the 19 defendants indict mens together . Yes. Have you ready in contact with the Special Counsel about the overlap between this indictment and im not going to discuss the investigation at this time. Former President Trump that this is a politically motivated indictment . I make decisions in this office based on the facts and the law. The law is completely nonpartisan, notice how decisions are made in every case. To date, those officers indicted since i have been sitting as a District Attorney, over 12,000 cases. This is the 11th rico indictment. We followed the same process, we look at the facts, we look at the law, and we bring charges. Any observations about the terms of surrender . All you try that is Fulton County District Attorney fani willis on the way home, she said, to get some sleep. Im with Michael Moore and david urban. Elie, what do you make of what we just heard . What we just saw was very much by the book as it should have been. Prosecutors really cannot say and should not say anything beyond what they alleged in the indictment. Of course, the indictment here is extraordinarily detailed so she had plenty of room to talk there. But the dea was very much by the book. She essentially said here are the names of the people we charged here, the charges a couple of things. A couple of things that jumped out at me is number one, i believe the dea said she is going to give everyone an opportunity until friday afternoon to voluntarily surrender. What that means is that each of these defendants, 19 defendants, is going to have a chance to come in and walk into the courthouse. It will have to arrange it in advance with the and staff and do it the easy way and, presumably, if they do not make that deadline then the dea will have the option, if the show chooses, of sending somebody out to make an arrest. Now, donald trump is going to present extenuating circumstances with the Secret Service detail. We will see how she negotiate that. The other thing i think was really interesting and, i think with sara murray, our colleague who asked of the question of how you had any contact with jack smith about Potential Overlap here . Previously, a week or two ago, fani willis said no i wouldnt know jack smith if you standing next to me. This time she refused to answer, she said im not going to discuss the investigation, although she did discuss the investigation at other points. That is a fact or all need to follow up on. Nothing inappropriate or wrong if she did talk to jack smith, in fact, that is normally what happened between prosecutors to make sure youre not stepping on each others toes. Michael moore, what did you hear . Well, it was interesting to me to hear her insist that she wanted to try the case within six months. She was going to try all night i appreciate the fact that she wants to move the case, but thats not going to happen. There is just no feasible way to do it. You cannot try 19 defendants, and youre certainly not going to try them on this kind of indictments with these allegations. She also knows where she falls, that shes the last to indict. Although the trial is already scheduled, so again, i read that this is a case, based on what we are seeing here, based on the number of defendants, based on what is clearly going to be a marathon trial, not to mention a marathon Jury Selection. This case will be well past the election. Michael, she said she wanted to file the defendants together, didnt shehe did. Thats what she said. She wants to try them all together. Is that possible . Its possible. It would be like trying a football team, i guess, but its just not going to be an easy task. Think about the number of lawyers, lets say each defendant shows up with a couple of lawyers there up and down making objections and motions, it really is going to turn into more of a task that could ever be accomplished in a six month period. Its one of the reasons we talked earlier about the current rico case that she is prosecuting with the Jury Selection is taking more than half a year. But that is very much more limited case, with fewer defendants and fewer lawyers in their. So this case, if she stays on that track, i just dont see any way that the case is going to be tried. And, again, he is presumed innocent. I think that her remarks were perfectly fine. She laid it out and said what she said, she reminded people that this is an indictment and hes presumed innocent. The court is going to take that into consideration, especially if he is winning primaries in republican nominee. Whether or not to run for the presidency. Based on the days when to try to try a case because she wants to try it in a six month period. All those things are going to factor in. Then . Well, she didnt throw the book at him, she threw the library. I think the difference between her approach and jack smiths approach is really night and day. Jack smith said there is a bunch of bad actors here, im going after one person, donald trump. Im going to be very, very narrow. She went after 18 other people, so its a very different approach. Also, jack smith says hands of mark meadows, which signals that mark meadows, despite being corrupt and horrible, is cooperating. She puts her hands on mark meadows in this. So you have got a very different player that just stepped on the field with a very different playbook and a very different sense of what justice looks like. I think the people that i am hearing from are very, very proud because this rico stuff, conspiracy stuff, youve got kids in neighborhoods across this country that have gone to jail on rico charges, conspiracy charges. If youve got kids in jails who were standing outside of the convenience store, their front went inside and did something stupid, and now everybody they knowism jail. We are very familiar with the book, the library, half of amazon. Com being thrown at us when somebody does something wrong and so this is actually what justice looks like. If you say you dont want a two tiered Justice System, this is what not having a two tiered Justice System looks like. You have an aggressive prosecutor, she is going after you, everybody you know, and she is not messing around. So this is a very different prosecutor and a different playbook than what you saw with jack smith. David . Yeah, anderson, earlier i mentioned the document that outlined it and somebody, a reporter asked her about that and she said i cant talk, i cant speak to it. And so she has had over three hours, however long it has been, to come up with an answer as to how that got leaked, posted in advance. It is going to give tons of fuel to a lot of different folks, and the fact that she didnt have an answer for that is just mindboggling. The fact that she couldnt say with certainty that it was put up in appropriately, it was leaked, i condemn it. The fact that she just tried to not answer it is going to be a big problem moving forward. It is going to, if you look at twitter right now or social media, im sure its blowing up. She is going to be expected to try this incredibly complex rico case and she cant answer how the document got posted. People are going to have a lot of questions. I appreciate it, lets go back to jake. Thank you anderson. We are going to stick with the document that was released this evening and let us talk, because earlier this evening you reminded us all that there had been reporting suggesting, not just reporting, a statement by a judge, judge walton i believe was his name, saying that donald trump had filed a document that contained false information and he had been told before he signed it by john eastman that that document contained false information. That is count 27 of this indictment and john eastman, despite giving him the advice that the information was wrong, did not escape being charged on count 27. And some of, im not going to read all of the lines, there are big ones. As many as 2500 felons with uncompleted sentence voted illegally. 66,000 people voted illegally, all of these lies on and on and on. Dont trump used to saying things that are not true, and not having any consequences, but you cant do that in a sworn document to a court of law. So, two things. As i recall, this comes out because of the January 6th Committee hearings, because they are trying to get hold of some eastman emails that they know are out there that he will not turn over. And they go to court, i think it was a judge David Cardita carter. This was about the crime fraud exception, that is what they are going. Explain what you made about the crime fraud exception. Laura, explain what i mean. Theres no confidentiality because the lawyer and client are engaged in a criminal act, so you dont get the same protections. Thank you very much. As part of that, judge carter does turn over these eastman emails and what the emails show is that eastman is telling donald trump, you cant do these things. This is illegal. We talk a lot about donald trump and lawyer shopping he did not want to hear from his Attorney General when his Attorney General said that there is no widespread election fraud. He didnt want to hear from his white House Counsel. He was happy to hear from john eastman when he had a plan to delay the election and try to get mike pence not to certify, but when john eastman said to him that you cant sign that, it is illegal, he ignored him. That completely undermined is divisive council defense. He shopping around, but also being told by these players. Another important point here is that people will remember the proud boys trial, they had to break up that trial. There were less than 19 defendants, the notion that you would have a six month trial involving 19 defendants, 19 separate defense councils, think about whats going on in the maralago documents case right now. How many different iterations and attempts to get them arraigned was separate council out happened is a bit of a pie in the sky notion. I understand of the speedy trial right, but its not going to happen. One of the things thats interesting in the last few weeks, mike pence, the former Vice President and his chief of staff, marc short, have gotten at least from my point of view, noticeably outspoken. They have always been outspoken since this all happened about what happened and how it should have happened, but marc short was on here today and also last week, making the argument, basically, that people in the media are missing the story. It wasnt just that he wanted to send some of the trump wanted pence to send some of the electoral votes back to the states, trump wanted pence to basically throw the whole thing away so that the election would then go to the House Of Representatives where there was and 24 that had democratic authorities and the theory was that the house would have elected trump president. That was the actual conspiracy that was documented in the indictment the as well, the idea that trump wanted pence to basically throw out half of the Electoral College votes. And there is a part in here, also, in which eastman, i believe, basically says look, the point is really just to get it to the judiciary and the chaos of that, they are just not going to want to rule on it because its a political matter. That alone would delay the certification of the election and allow donald trump to remain in office. So the plan was, all of those things, not just to the idea that pence could just declare donald trump the president , the other thing that is interesting to me, that we should also remember. There are a lot of people who are not household names indicted in this indictment and those people are accused of actually really serious stuff. Including attempting to tamper with ballots, a tamper with election machines, the real nuts and bolts of trying to steal the election. If you are trying to make a movie about how keystone cocked would be trying to steal an election, it would be the stuff that is in here. Those people are actually charged with crimes associated with those activities and it is not just about words and schemes, they were trying to mess with the ballots. 30 individuals not charged, 30 coconspirators. Andy mccabe, im about to jump all but what is the most damning thing in here do you think . To me, the most damning thing is the volume. There are so many opportunities for the District Attorney to prove this case and it is some of the acts are really headline grabbing. The donald trump ordering johnny to draft a memo to how to overturn the results of the election, that is remarkable. I dont think weve heard that before. Johnny mcentee not indicted in. Those notably not indicted. And then other theres 1 million phone calls and emails. If i were some of these people who were indicted, i want to find out who is not named and not indicted and figure out who was talking and what do they have on me . Because she said people have until friday to come on in face of. Well, i would want to know