Former President Donald Trump was arrested August 24 in Fulton County, Georgia, on costs associated to his makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
The Georgia costs come from the most important of the 4 critical prison circumstances Trump faces; one in all a number of distinctive issues about Trump’s Georgia indictment is the variety of defendants who’re named in it. While the US authorities’s January 6 case in opposition to Trump largely focuses on the previous president, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is pursuing a case not solely in opposition to Trump, however 18 further defendants who have been attorneys, staffers, and native officers allegedly working with the previous president.
Willis charged such a big group as a result of she argues that the Trump marketing campaign was on the middle of a prison enterprise and that lots of the people named within the case helped help within the group’s try and overturn the Georgia 2020 election outcomes.
Establishing that Trump and his allies have been a part of an enterprise — an individual, group, or enterprise engaged in authorized or unlawful conduct — is vital to Willis’s assertion that the defendants violated Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. To achieve this, prosecutors might want to persuade a jury that every one the defendants are responsible of racketeering, or organizing an enterprise to systematically plan and commit crimes, and utilizing coercion, manipulation, and intimidation as wanted to advance their targets.
The record of individuals Willis says have been a part of that enterprise is lots to maintain observe of, and consists of high-profile acquainted faces — akin to former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows — in addition to less-well-known people like false electors David Shafer and Shawn Still.
Below, we have now a visible information of the 19 defendants’ mugshots, the fees they face, and their connection to this indictment. (Some mugshots have but to be launched and might be added when they’re. Defendants have till Friday, August 25, at midday to show themselves in to Georgia officers.)
Former President Donald Trump
Role: Former president and charged as head of the prison enterprise
Charges: 13, together with racketeering, soliciting a public official to violate their oath of workplace, and making false statements
Connection to the case: The indictment describes Trump because the chief of the prison enterprise that sought to overturn the 2020 Georgia election outcomes.
Among different issues, it accuses him of planning, alongside allies, of deceptive the general public concerning the election in speeches, repeatedly mendacity to elected officers in key states to get them to again his push to overturn the election, pressuring many officers to tamper with the electoral course of, working to disrupt Congress’s certification of the electoral vote, and utilizing social media to foment conspiracy theories.
It additionally claims that Trump knew he had not received the election and that the actions his allies undertook to overturn it have been performed with Trump’s implicit, and sometimes express, approval.
Trump’s post-election authorized crew
Rudy Giuliani
Role: Former Trump lawyer
Charges: 13, together with racketeering, making false statements, and conspiracy to commit forgery
Connection to the case: Giuliani, previously New York City’s mayor, turned an in depth Trump ally over the course of the previous president’s administration, and ultimately served as Trump’s private lawyer. He was a distinguished determine within the days following the election, appearing on tv and holding press conferences falsely arguing Trump received.
He is accused of pressuring legislatures in a number of states, together with Georgia, to call electors that will award the election to Trump despite the fact that a number of recounts had confirmed his loss.
John Eastman
Role: Former Trump lawyer
Charges: 9, together with racketeering, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, and submitting false paperwork
Connection to the case: Eastman is a longtime fixture within the conservative authorized scene and was previously the chair of the Federalist Society. He started advising Trump in earnest following the 2020 election and composed a memo that was central to the previous President’s efforts to stress Vice President Mike Pence to reject the 2020 election outcomes.
The indictment accuses Eastman of working with Trump to coordinate another slate of electors in a number of states and of submitting false paperwork that allege unfounded claims of election fraud in Georgia, together with that 1000’s of felons and underaged folks voted illegally.
Sidney Powell
Role: Former Trump lawyer
Charges: seven, together with racketeering, conspiracy to commit election fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the state
Connection to the case: Powell was a Trump marketing campaign lawyer who turned probably the most seen faces of the hassle touting unfounded election fraud claims, famously saying at one level that she would “release the Kraken” of proof. Powell additionally vocally unfold lies about how Dominion voting machines favored Biden versus Trump, an allegation that later performed a task within the defamation lawsuit Dominion filed in opposition to Fox News.
The indictment accuses Powell of hiring a forensic information agency to amass information from Dominion voting machines throughout the nation, together with in Coffee County, Georgia. It additionally alleges that Powell tampered with digital poll markers and machines in Coffee County.
Kenneth Chesebro
Role: Former Trump lawyer
Charges: seven, together with racketeering, conspiracy to commit forgery, and conspiracy to commit submitting false paperwork
Connection to the case: Chesebro, a lawyer who has labored with conservatives lately, is among the lesser-known Trump attorneys who performed a serious function in advancing the concept of the faux electors scheme. As a part of his argument, Cheseboro prompt that a number of states might have false electors put forth votes for Trump and ship them to Washington, sowing doubt round Biden’s win.
The indictment accuses him of a number of offenses, together with conspiracy to commit submitting false paperwork by submitting a doc concerning the Georgia electors in courtroom that contained false statements. His memos allegedly helped gas the plan to safe a slate of different electors in every state that could possibly be despatched to Congress to trigger confusion and mistrust.
Jenna Ellis
Role: Former Trump lawyer
Connection to the case: Ellis is a conservative lawyer and a former deputy district lawyer from Colorado. Ellis allegedly coordinated Georgia hearings that helped perpetuate unfounded claims of election fraud and is claimed to have participated in conferences and hearings associated to overturning the vote in different key states as properly.
The indictment accuses her of writing memos making the authorized case {that a} vice chairman can intercede in the course of the congressional session meant to certify the electoral vote and might cease that vote from occurring. These memos supposedly helped type the idea of the stress marketing campaign Trump publicly waged to attempt to get his vice chairman, Mike Pence, to assist overturn the election.
Ray Smith
Role: Former Trump 2020 marketing campaign lawyer in Georgia
Charges: 12, together with racketeering, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, and false statements
Connection to the case: Smith was beforehand a staffer within the Georgia Attorney General’s workplace and served as Trump’s native lawyer in Georgia in the course of the 2020 marketing campaign. Smith is known as for testifying at a Georgia state Senate listening to and perpetuating election lies there, in addition to taking part in an election problem in Georgia state courtroom. Additionally, he’s accused of pressuring Georgia House members to nominate various electors.
Government and marketing campaign officers
Mark Meadows
Role: former White House chief of employees
Charges: two, together with racketeering and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer
Connection to the case: Meadows was Trump’s fourth (should you depend performing chief Mick Mulvaney) and closing chief of employees and was a key member of his internal circle within the closing days of his administration. In the entire January 6 investigations, there have been many questions on how a lot Meadows knew about Trump’s frame of mind throughout his makes an attempt to overturn the election.
The indictment largely casts him as a facilitator, allegedly serving to coordinate communications between Trump and Georgia election officers, coordinating authorized methods, and spreading false theories about election fraud.
Jeffrey Clark
Role: former performing assistant lawyer basic on the DOJ
Charges: two, together with racketeering and try and commit false statements and writings
Connection to the case: Clark turned recognized in the course of the January 6 investigation as a DOJ official stated to have tried to make use of the chaos unfolding on the finish of the Trump administration to catapult himself into the function of performing lawyer basic, after which, to make use of the ability of that workplace to pressure key states to acknowledge Trump’s false electors, handing the election to Trump.
The indictment particulars Clark’s communications with performing lawyer basic Jeffrey Rosen and different key officers, together with a false letter meant for Georgia officers that prompt the DOJ had noticed considerations with the state’s election outcomes that would have required the reevaluation of the end result and the appointment of latest electors. It means that he was a key a part of the hassle to make use of the federal government as a device to overturn the election.
Michael Roman
Role: Senior Trump marketing campaign staffer
Charges: seven, together with racketeering, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, and conspiracy to commit forgery
Connection to the case: Roman had a low-profile function within the Trump marketing campaign as its director of Election Day operations. That job required coordination with native election officers, lawmakers, and marketing campaign members. The indictment suggests Roman used contacts made in the course of the marketing campaign to assist coordinate the plan to arrange a slate of faux electors and alleges that he offered organizational help for that plan in Georgia, together with establishing conferences.
Misty Hampton
Role: Former Coffee County, Georgia, election supervisor
Charges: seven, together with racketeering, conspiracy to commit election fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the state
Connection to the case: In the weeks after the election, Hampton publicly questioned the outcomes of the election and superior the conspiracy concept that there was one thing amiss with Dominion Voting Systems machines, together with by posting a video in style among the many proper meant to indicate that the machines might simply be tampered with. She advised the Washington Post she allowed businessman Scott Hall, one of many different defendants, and others entry to the Coffee County elections workplace to assist show to the world “that this election was not done true and correct.”
The indictment accuses her of improperly accessing and sharing the Coffee County machine’s information and of aiding Trump supporters who have been attempting to get information.
Local operators and Trump supporters
Robert Cheeley
Role: trial lawyer in Georgia
Charges: 10, together with racketeering, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, and conspiracy to commit false statements
Connection to the case: Cheeley is a neighborhood lawyer who represented Trump, a faux elector, and different GOP figures. He is finest recognized for testifying at a Georgia legislative listening to making false allegations of miscounting and election fraud, together with below oath.
Scott Hall
Role: Atlanta-based Trump supporter
Charges: seven, together with racketeering, conspiracy to commit election fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the state
Connection to the case: Hall is a neighborhood bail bondsman and Trump supporter. Hampton advised the Washington Post that he and others visited Coffee County’s election places of work however that she wasn’t positive precisely how they spent their time there, telling the paper, “I’m not a babysitter.” The indictment alleges he illegally accessed information from a voting machine in Coffee County, Georgia.
Stephen Lee
Role: Illinois pastor and Trump supporter
Charges: 5, together with racketeering, trying to affect witnesses, and conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings
Connection to the case: Before the 2020 election, Lee was a touring pastor who specialised in ministering to legislation enforcement post-crisis. A Trump supporter, he went to the house of election employee Ruby Freeman, whom pro-Trump conspiracy theorists accused of serving to to illegally swing the election for Biden.
When the police got here to the home, Lee advised them, “I’m a pastor and I’m also working with some folks who are trying to help Ruby out and also get to some truth of what’s going on.” He went on to attach with codefendant Harrison Floyd, asking for his help in speaking to Freeman, reportedly believing that Freeman, a Black girl, would reply extra positively to Floyd, a Black man.
Lee’s efforts, the indictment claims, represent intimidation of Atlanta election officers and unlawful influencing of witnesses.
Harrison Floyd
Role: former chief of Black Voters for Trump
Charges: three, together with racketeering, conspiracy to decide to false writings, and conspiracy to affect witnesses
Connection to the case: Floyd had lengthy been a Trump supporter however turned concerned with the opposite defendants after responding to a name from Lee. He then reportedly recruited defendant Trevian Kutti’s help in attempting to speak to Ruby Freeman, the Atlanta election employee pro-Trump forces accused of fraud. The indictment claims he participated in an intimidation scheme.
Trevian Kutti
Role: Trump supporter and former publicist for celebrities like Kanye West
Charges: three, together with racketeering, conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements, and conspiracy to affect witnesses
Connection to the case: Kutti traveled from her base of operations in Chicago to Atlanta after talking with Floyd. Once there, she reportedly went to Freeman’s house, advised her she’d been despatched by an unnamed “high-profile individual,” and gave Freeman an ultimatum: Confess to election crimes or go to jail. Freeman referred to as the police and was in the end advised by the FBI to relocate for her personal security.
Kutti, like Floyd and Lee, is now accused of being concerned in Freeman’s intimidation and of influencing a witness.
False electors
David Shafer
Role: Georgia false elector and former chair of the state’s Republican Party
Charges: eight, together with racketeering, impersonating a public officer, and forgery
Connection to the case: Shafer allegedly helped coordinate the false elector scheme within the state and signed paperwork suggesting that he was one in all 16 certified electors declaring Trump’s victory. According to the indictment, he requested the faux electors to quietly collect on the Georgia state Capitol on December 14, 2020, to “avoid drawing attention to what we are doing.” He then signed a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp asking him to approve the faux slate of electors.
Shafer has requested that the case in opposition to him be moved to federal courtroom and has tried to pin the blame for any wrongdoing on these with extra energy and affect: “Mr. Shafer and the other Republican Electors in the 2020 election acted at the direction of the incumbent President and other federal officials,” Shafer’s lawyer wrote within the petition. Trump’s attorneys had argued to Shafer that assembling the faux electors was obligatory for the previous president to win Georgia’s electoral votes if he was in a position to win his courtroom challenges to the outcomes, and Shafer has offered proof that he was intently coordinating with them.
Shawn Still
Role: false elector and Georgia state senator
Charges: seven, together with racketeering, impersonating a public officer, and forgery
Connection to the case: Still, the secretary of the Georgia 2020 Electoral College Meeting, was amongst 16 Republicans who signed a certificates falsely claiming that they have been “duly elected and qualified” electors for the state and that Trump had received the election. He then signed a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp asking him to approve the faux slate of electors.
He has additionally requested that the case in opposition to him be transferred to federal courtroom as a result of he was performing on the path of Trump’s attorneys, whom he argues have been successfully brokers of the federal authorities at that time.
Cathy Latham
Role: false elector and former head of the Coffee County Republicans
Charges: eleven, together with racketeering, impersonating a public officer, and forgery
Connection to the case: Latham was amongst 16 Republicans who signed a certificates falsely claiming that they have been “duly elected and qualified” electors for the state and that Trump had received the election. Based on telephone calls and textual content messages procured by Georgia prosecutors, she was additionally charged in connection to a voting system breach in Coffee County allegedly orchestrated by Hampton and different Trump allies who sought to supply proof that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
The indictment alleges that Latham and others tampered with digital poll markers and tabulating machines and took official ballots exterior of a polling location with out authorization.