Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis finally pulled the trigger after a two-and-a-half year investigation into former President Donald Trump’s election tampering in Georgia. Willis shows confidence with her farfetched case against former President Donald Trump invoking RICO [Racketeering, Influenced, and Corrupt Organizations Act], a preposterous legal theory to account for why Trump and 18 other defendants were somehow an illegal mafia-like group trying to influence the outcome of Georgia’s 2020 presidential vote. Trump and his many attorneys and consultants tried to figure out what happened when all parties went to sleep on election night Nov. 3, 2020. Trump, and all his consultants, went to bed with a strong lead in Georgia and other key swing states. When Trump woke up the next day everything changed with Joe Biden taking the lead for good. What was Trump’s legal team supposed to think?
Fani Willis made the classic rookie mistake for prosecutors in overcharging Trump and other defendants with a simple case involving disgruntled members of Trump’s staff trying to get to the bottom of how things changed after Election Night. Biden took the lead for good and continued to pile up votes far exceeding pre-election polls showing a tight race, separating both candidates by only a small fraction of votes. Rumors swirled after the Election Night blackout about election fraud, something not proven in any court where no one could put a finger on what happened. When the dust settled and Joe Biden was declared president, it became clear that universal mail-in ballots were responsible for the turnaround, with Democrats enjoying a clear registration advantage. No one knows how many ballots were shipped out to Democrats to account for Biden’s big victory.
Willis makes a big deal in charging Trump and 18 other defendants with RICO violations when, in fact, they were all based on a Jan. 2, 2020 phone call Trump had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “What I want to do is this. I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more [than the 11,779 vote margin of defeat] we have, because we won the state,” Trump told Raffesperger Jan. 2, 2020. From that conversation, Trump has been indicted by Fani Willis under the state’s RICO statute, something preposterous for any prosecutor. It’s 100% clear for Trump’s conversation with Raffesperger, he wasn’t asking him to find illicit votes, he wanted Raffesnperger to find legitimate votes that might have been overlooked by Georgia officials. Willis cites the phone call with Raffensperger as the primary reason for moving ahead with RICO charges against Trump and 18 other defendants
So, when it comes to Willis proving the allegations in court, any rookie defense attorney will question her facts used to draw conclusions about criminal charges. How would any jury, unless they’re handpicked to get Trump, believe that he would be so stupid on a phone call to Raffensperger. Looking at other charges against Trump, New York Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felonies for bookkeeping issues related to a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels before the Nov. 8, 2016 presidential election. Trump denied any 2012 one-night stand with the adult film star. Bit instead of charging Trump with misdemeanors as specified by New York state law, Bragg upgraded the charges to Class 3 felonies. So, when it comes to Trump defending the Manhattan DA’s Stormy Daniels case, Trump’s attorneys should easily point out Bragg’s political bias.
Bragg ran for Manhattan DA in 2021 after his predecessor Cyrus Vance Jr. retired, refusing to file charges against Trump. Bragg promised liberal voters in 2021 that he would go after Trump if elected Manhattan DA. What more do juries need to hear but Bragg’s campaign speeches, showing extreme prejudice against Trump. Bragg’s star witness is CNN media darling, convicted felon Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney turned-political-hack after Cohen’s Aug. 21, 2018 conviction on largely income tax evasion, bank and wire fraud and violating campaign finance laws. All of Bragg’s evidence boils down to Cohen, a highly impeachable witness with an ax to grind against Trump. Bragg isn’t likely to convict Trump of any felony, certainly not the ones he charged. So, when it comes to Bragg’s case, any rookie defense attorney should make mincemeat out of Bragg’s case.
Democrats and the press hope that that Special Counsel Jack Smith can succeed in convicting Trump of possessing classified documents found in moving boxes at his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago estate. Smith is on record stating that Trump threatened U.S. national security by harboring classified docs in moving boxes in a locked basement at his Florida residence. What jury, no matter how partisan, is going to convict Trump of harboring old classified documents in moving boxes in his personal residence? Smith, Democrats and the press are dreaming that he ‘s going to convict Trump of violating the Presidential Records and Espionage Act for inadvertently possessing old classified documents with no national security significance. When it comes to defrauding the U.S. government, Trump was entitled to his opinion of what happened in the 2020 election. Trump could easily get off on all charges.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
