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It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy. We think of it as a mini-magazine in your inbox.
ANOTHER INDICTMENT
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage
Senior Editor, Digital
Former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted under Georgia’s racketeering law late Monday night by a grand jury in Fulton County.
District Attorney Fani Willis, who led the more than two-year investigation into possible 2020 election interference in the state, described the group as a part of a criminal enterprise designed to keep Trump in power after his loss.
Those charged in the indictment “refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” Willis said.
This means Trump has been indicted for a fourth time this year.
As the various investigations move forward, Trump — the Republican front-runner in the 2024 race so far — faces multiple trials next year. To date, Trump also faces a total of 91 criminal counts. (We updated Lisa’s handy guide to all the state and federal criminal investigations into Trump’s actions here.)
Remember: The Georgia probe was launched soon after a recording emerged of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state. During that call, Trump pressured the state official to overturn the state’s election results, telling him to “find” 11,780 votes.
The Georgia indictment is 98 pages long. Let’s dive in.
The charges. There are 41 counts against all 19 defendants. This includes 13 charges against Trump.
The indictment says these individuals — and others who are unnamed and unindicted — "unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere." (See top of page 15.)
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Image by PBS NewsHour
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Who are the other 18? The defendants named in the indictment include some high-profile members of Trump’s inner circle:
- Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff
- Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former lawyer (and believed to be one of the six, unnamed co-conspirators listed in the federal Jan. 6 indictment)
- There are some familiar names previously mentioned in the Jan. 6 hearings: attorneys Sidney Powell and John Eastman, former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark and former Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro.
- Several Georgia officials, including David Shafer, the state GOP chairman who served as a fake Trump elector at the time.
- Beyond the 19 individuals indicted, the document says there are 30 additional unnamed co-conspirators.
What’s the RICO Act? The counts against Trump and co. include violating the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The federal RICO law has been used to go after organized crime. The state’s RICO statute is one of the nation’s broadest, White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López explains. RICO allows prosecutors to put together a variety of alleged crimes committed to show that a group or enterprise carried out a wide-ranging conspiracy.
What does the prosecution say? Prosecutors listed 161 acts that they say amount to a larger conspiracy, including false testimony from Guiliani about election fraud to state lawmakers and Trump’s call to Raffensperger to “find” some 11,000 votes. Willis said her office plans to try all 19 defendants together. Those charged in the case, she said, have until noon Aug. 25 to surrender in Fulton County.
Trump’s defense. Trump and several of the allies indicted have denied the charges or criticized prosecutors. Trump, who has attacked prosecutors leading other investigations into his actions, has categorized the latest charges against him as part of an effort to stop his 2024 campaign. His lawyers in the case said in a statement: "We look forward to a detailed review of this indictment, which is undoubtedly just as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire process has been." Trump announced that he will hold a “major news conference” next Monday.
A key difference. Unlike the federal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith earlier this month, Trump could not pardon himself or attempt to shut down this investigation if he is reelected president next year.
When is the trial? Willis said she would seek a trial date within the next six months. (Although that timing may be optimistic, according to some experts.)
For more of our coverage on this latest indictment, go here. Our on-air coverage, leading up to the upcoming arraignments, can be found here.
Politics producers Matt Loffman and Kyle Midura contributed to this report.
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More on the Trump investigations from our coverage:
- Read: Read the full Georgia indictment against Trump and 18 of his allies.
- One Big Question: Will Trump show up to the GOP’s first 2024 presidential debate next week? Stay tuned.
- A Closer Look: A guide to each federal and state case facing Donald Trump.
- Perspectives: Whether there's an acquittal or a conviction, how much would a trial verdict matter? Retired Judge Michael Luttig, who advised former Vice President Mike Pence against overturning the 2020 election, weighs in.
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POSTCARD FROM THE POLITICAL HEARTLAND
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Watch the segment in the player above.
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By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent
Greetings from Iowa and one of the world’s most politically important fairs. We wish you were here.
Nevermind the 90-degree heat and direct sun (our crew began each day with a coating of sunscreen and tried to hydrate constantly).
This is a magical place with giant stuffed animals and roving piano players. And not just fried food but gluten-free fried food, forcing a mental double-step over the question, “What is healthy anyway?” (Our favorite was the full-gluten “pickledawg,” a pickle covered in spicy cream cheese, wrapped in ham and deep-fried.)
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Signage spotted at the 2023 Iowa State Fair. Photos by Lisa Desjardins/PBS NewsHour
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Yes, we’ve written to you about the Iowa State Fair before, but this year stood out. The fair hasn’t changed. But the politics of it all were something else.
For starters, no one at the fair, including Iowa Republican chair Jeff Kaufmann, could remember a time when a former president attended. And Donald Trump did not just attend, but purposely circled the fair overhead in his plane at the precise moment his rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, was in the middle of the key moment of any fair visit: the flipping of the pork chop.
The trolling was also ground-level. DeSantis tried to make small talk over the grill as Trump supporters lined up nearby and chanted, “We want Trump!”
DeSantis supporters, perhaps aiming for unity — or perhaps aware that his three-syllable name has not yet formed into a comfortable chant — responded with “USA! USA!”
After DeSantis left and Trump arrived, the crowd surged. Our producer Kyle Midura tried to jockey for space, performing his own carnival act by extending a camera and tripod high over his head to capture the moment. |
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A volunteer holds up a shirt for former President Trump. On the right, our producer Kyle, performing camera wizardry. Photos by Lisa Desjardins/PBS NewsHour
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We will be blunt: Trump drew exponentially more people than any other candidate. At one point, in a back alley with a partial view of his exit path, some bystanders even climbed onto a garbage dumpster to try and get a glimpse.
The former president’s remarks inside a well-known beer-and-beef joint were rather brief. But his organization was stronger than in past years, focused on getting caucus commitments and launching troops of volunteers in green hats and “Trump” T-shirts to walk around the fair as human billboards.
DeSantis has clear support but is not in Trump’s orbit yet. The governor has an unusual strategy — relying on a related super PAC, “Never Back Down” — rather than the official campaign to organize in Iowa. That is testing concepts and rules around super PACs.
We got the chance to speak to most of the candidates and dozens of voters. Some impressions to pass on:
- Trump supporters seem more loyal and even more committed to him than ever. To them, they said, his indictments lend credence to his claim that he has been targeted politically.
- We asked several of those supporters, “How do you know that what President Trump says is true?” Volunteer Heide Reinhardt told us flatly, “We don’t.” But she said she also doesn’t know whether the things that others are saying are true. And she chooses to believe Trump.
- Vivek Ramaswamy is rising. The 38-year-old businessman is gaining traction by positioning himself as a new-generation version of Trump without the political baggage.
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On the left, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley poses with one of the members of the Ruthless Podcast during a taping in Des Moines. On the right, former Vice President Mike Pence takes questions from reporters. Photos by Lisa Desjardins/PBS NewsHour
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- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also getting some attention. His Midwestern roots combined with business success and fossil-fuel-for-now approach has voter appeal. He is straightforward, low-drama and relatable.
- The other candidates are struggling but working hard to reach the next tier. That includes former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who we saw getting strong crowd reaction at several events and bonding with current Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, perhaps the state’s most beloved politician.
- Former Vice President Mike Pence got a different kind of strong reaction. A fairgoer directly accused him of committing treason for not backing Trump’s call to block the certification of election results on Jan. 6, 2021. Pence’s best moments at the fair, however, were in responding to that charge and stressing that he stood up for the Constitution and democracy. As for how he will gain against Trump, he told us simply, “Stay tuned.”
We most certainly will.
And meanwhile, we will get ourselves a pickledawg.
With love,
Lisa, Winston Wilde, Kyle Midura and Devin Pinckard
Your PBS NewsHour Iowa State Fair Crew
#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Cybele Mayes-Osterman, @CybeleMO
Associate Editorial Producer
The Georgia indictment charges former President Donald Trump under the state’s anti-racketeering law.
Georgia’s RICO statute was based on the federal act of the same name, which was designed to target organized groups engaged in crimes such as money laundering, bribery or embezzlement. The act was recently used to prosecute the Gambino and Bonanno crime families, as well as 14 members of “The Chicago Outfit”, or the “Chicago Mob” in 2005.
Our question: "RICO” shares a name with the main character of an American mob movie. What is the film?
Send your answers to [email protected] or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.
Last week, we asked: Herbert S. Bigelow, a pacifist pastor, was once kidnapped and whipped in response to his opposition to U.S. participation in what major global conflict?
The answer: World War I. According to this New York Times report in 1917, the Cincinnati pastor was seized shortly before delivering a speech to an anti-war and socialist crowd in Newport, Kentucky. The abductors wore robes and hoods similar to those worn by Ku Klux Klansmen.
Congratulations to our winners: Paul Taylor and Jim Brydon!
Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.
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