Former President Trump called then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston after the 2020 elections asking him to convene a special session of the legislature to overturn Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state, according to jurors who participated in the special grand jury investigating whether Trump and his allies tried to unlawfully interfere in the 2020 election results.
And it was perfect
What’s wrong with Fanny Willis? She doesn’t want to be the first DA to indict a former president? Has Trump being again at what he does best, inducing corruption?
“You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science,” Kohrs said in a New York Times interview. “You won’t be too surprised.”
So it’s the Tooth Fairy? Obnoxio The Clown? Elvis? Who???
This indictment can either make or break a career. It’s given that Fanny Fani Willis’s preparation of any indictment will need to undergo a thorough and sifting examination before it is unsealed.
Sometimes I get the feeling that nobody wants to be the first to indict. Everybody is waiting for one of the other potential indictments to drop and if the end of the world does not ensue, then everyone will be doing it.
Also from the AJC article (via Salon):
“A lot’s gonna come out sooner or later,” one of the jurors told AJC. “And it’s gonna be massive. It’s gonna be massive.”
As I understand it, a Grand Jury has to be seated and take over from the Special Grand Jury that examined the evidence and could make recommendations, but had no power to hand down indictments. GA is weird that way. It might explain the delay; I don’t know if that’s happened yet.
Is there a link see so we can listen to the Ralston call?
Not according to TDFFG’s doctors (or Stormy Daniels). He’s well within the weight guidelines for a man who is 6’5".
Every time I hear lawyers talk about the difficulty of making this case I keep wondering why? Aren’t we completely past the smoking gun at this point? Do we really have doubts about intent? Where is the doubt? WE HAVE HIM ON TAPE.
“[Lindsey Graham] said that during that time, if somebody had told Trump that aliens came down and stole Trump ballots, that Trump would’ve believed it,” one grand juror told the paper.
Ladies and gents, the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner and stable genius, Donald J. (I’ll believe anything that fits my narcissistic view of reality) Trump.
I’m assuming Ralston died of natural causes.
And he’ll continue to get away with it.
We have him on tape saying “I need you to find me X number of votes.” We don’t have him on tape saying “I need you to change the number of votes by this amount.” So here is what Trump’s lawyer will say in the trial:
“Trump only meant that he wanted to make sure that the count was correct, and there weren’t any missing votes for him, as is his right as a candidate. He never meant to say the count should be altered in his favor, because gosh no! That would be a crime! Asking to find votes is not the same as asking for the count to be changed.”
This is Trump’s Mafia Boss-speak in action. He’s always careful to hint at what he wants instead of saying it out loud. So the GA prosecutor has to make sure a case can be made that it was illegal tampering with an election as defined in GA law, with no room for doubt. An acquittal after bringing the case to trial would be a disaster.
It’s not a contest—the indictment of a former POTUS shouldn’t be. I want this criminal tried and, if found guilty, punished. It’s better to get it right the first time, because you don’t get another shot.
That said, I think the NYC DA’s hush money case against TFG is small potatoes—better for him to be tried for tax evasion or the other more serious crimes for which he could most likely be found guilty:
Strictly from a PR standpoint, I don’t see the hush money case gaining any traction (yes, I know that’s not quite the point of it, but still). The other bulleted crimes? Those people can easily understand. Hush money is pretty penny ante stuff.
I suppose Donald could use as a defense that he truly believed there was electoral fraud in GA so was justified in pressing Raffensperger and Ralston. Graham’s observation about aliens might even be used to support Donald’s claim to having so truly believed. But then, as I understand it (not a lawyer here), Graham’s observation (along with plenty of other evidence) could also be used by prosecutors to argue that Trump was willfully ignoran that no significant fraud marred GA’s election. Such extremely willful ignorance, as I understand it, undermines (perhaps destroys) any claim to true belief.
I also think Donald might have a defense – a weak one, but a defense – in the matter of pressing Raffensperger on just needing to find 11,781 (or whatever the #) votes. Trump can say that he only meant to remind Raffensperger of the slim margin, so that scrupulous attention to any possible fraud or miscounting was warranted.
And, if reports are accurate, there may be as many as eleven other people indicted.
It’s crucially important to anticipate and prepare for the arguments your opponent might make in order to decide exactly what charges to bring, craft your own arguments, weave in rebuttals, give shape to your overall presentation, prepare witnesses, and so on .
I’m willing to wait if Fani Willis can nail Trump and the others – especially Trump, of course.
Fani Willis.
Pronounced Fah-nee.
Right. My apologies.
Butt out!