Americans had made. Thank you for joining us. I am here with the prosecutor and investigators who have worked diligently on the investigation and criminal attempts to interfere with 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. Remember that everyone charged in this bill of indictment is presumed innocent. Specifically the indictment brings felony charges against donald john truong donald trump, rudy giuliani, don charles eastman, mark randall meadows, john, jeffrey clark, jenna lynn ellis, ray Spalding Smith the third, robert david, michael grauman, david james schaefer, shawn steel, Stephen Clifford lee, Harrison William prescott boyd, sidney catherine powell, Kathleen Austin latham, scott graham hall, and misty hansen also known as emily misty hayes. Every individual charged in the indictment is charged with one count of violating georgia racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act through participation in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, georgia, and elsewhere, to accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J Trump to seize the president ial term of Office Beginning on january 20, 2021. Specifically the participants in association took various actions in georgia and elsewhere to block the counting of the vote of the president ial electors who were certified as the winners of georgias 2020 general elections treated as you examine the indictment you will see acts that are identified as overt acts and those identified as predicate acts, sometimes called acts of racketeering activity. Overt acts are not necessarily crime under georgia law in isolation, but are alleged to be acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy. Many occurred in georgia and some occurred in other jurisdictions and are included because the grand jury believes they were part of the illegal effort to overturn the results of georgias election. The acts identified as predicate acts or acts of racketeering activity are crimes that are alleged to have been committed in furtherance of a criminal enterprise. As a racketeering activity acts of racketeering are charged as separate indictments 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 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 georgias Legal Process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn georgias president ial election results. Subsequent to the indictment, as is the normal process in georgia law, the grand jury issued arrest or rents for those who are charged. I am giving the defendants the opportunity to voluntarily surrender no later than noon on friday, the 25th day of august, 2020a i will remind everyone here that an indictment is only a series of allegations based on a grand jury 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 thank the superior court clerk and her staff for staying late in making sure that this indictment was processed. I would like to thank the men and women of the Sheriffs Office for keeping the courthouse open. Most importantly, for keeping us safe over the weeks and months that have led up to this indictment and for what i know they will continue to do to keep us safe. We also want to thank the Atlanta Police department and other Law Enforcement partners who have worked with the sheriff to keep us safe. I will now take a very limited number of questions prior to going to sleep. Ill go first if you dont mind. Can you clarify in georgia when it comes to charges, whether probation or how that might play out . The rico charges have time that you have to serve so it is not a probation sentence. What is the timetable for the trial . As you know in this jurisdiction trials are set by the judges. So it will be the judge that sets the date of the trial. This august they will be submitting a proposed scheduling order within it this week. However, that will be at the discretion of the judge. The courts jurisdiction to donald trump, will they try him . I dont have any desire to be first or last. I want to try him and respect our sovereign states. We want to move this case along so we will be asking for a proposed order that prefers a trial date within the next six months. Earlier today, there was a petition documented according to the court circulated online with charges against former president trump. That fictitious document matched exactly the charges that we now see. Can you tell us more about that document leak . Now you have the former president s lawyers saying it is emblematic of a serious problem . No, i cannot tell you anything about what you refer to. We had a grand jury here at Fulton County, they deliberated until almost 8 00 if not right after 8 00 and the indictment when returned, you have an indictment. I am not an expert on clerks duties or even administrative duties, i would not know how to work the system so im not going to speculate. Next question. Have you talked with special counsel and do you intend to try all of these defendants together . Do i intend to try the 19 defendants in this indictment together . Yes. [indiscernible] im not going to discuss our investigation. How do you address the arguments that this is politically motivated . I make decisions based on the facts and the law. If the law is nonpartisan, that is how decisions are made in every case. Those indicted since ive been district attorney, 12,000 cases. This is a rico indictment. We follow the same process. We look at the facts, the law, and we bring charges. Will you try this case yourself . [indiscernible]
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