Fulton County DA Fani Willis Indicts Trump and 18 Co-Defendants on Georgia RICO Charges

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced a sweeping 98-page indictment charging former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The indictment represented the most comprehensive criminal case against Trump, charging him with 41 counts and detailing 161 criminal acts in what prosecutors described as a “criminal enterprise” to subvert democracy.

The RICO Charges

Willis chose to prosecute the case under Georgia’s RICO statute, a law originally designed to combat organized crime. The RICO framework allowed prosecutors to link together disparate acts - phone calls, meetings, social media posts, and document filings - into a single conspiracy narrative. Under Georgia law, RICO charges carry severe penalties, including prison sentences of 5 to 20 years, and require prosecutors to prove that defendants participated in a pattern of racketeering activity through an enterprise.

The indictment charged Trump with 13 counts including solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit false statements and writings, conspiracy to commit forgery, and filing false documents. But the overarching charge - the RICO violation - tied all the defendants together in what prosecutors alleged was a coordinated criminal enterprise to maintain Trump’s hold on power despite his clear defeat in Georgia and nationally.

The “Find 11,780 Votes” Call

Central to the indictment was Trump’s January 2, 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In that hour-long call, captured on audio recording, Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” - exactly one more vote than Trump’s margin of defeat in Georgia. Trump made numerous false claims about election fraud, including allegations of dead people voting, underage voters, ballot shredding, and voting machine manipulation.

Raffensperger and his team systematically refuted each claim, explaining that Georgia had conducted multiple recounts and audits that confirmed Joe Biden’s victory. Despite this, Trump continued to pressure Raffensperger, at one point warning him that refusing to “find” the votes could be “a criminal offense.” The call, which Raffensperger’s office recorded and later leaked to the press, provided prosecutors with direct evidence of Trump’s intent to overturn legitimate election results through pressure on state officials.

The Fake Electors Scheme in Georgia

The indictment detailed how Trump and his co-conspirators organized a slate of fake electors who met at the Georgia State Capitol on December 14, 2020, and signed certificates falsely declaring Trump had won Georgia’s electoral votes. These fake electors submitted their fraudulent certificates to Congress and the National Archives, documents that Trump’s team intended to use during the January 6 certification process.

Several of the fake electors were named as defendants in the indictment, including David Shafer (chairman of the Georgia Republican Party) and Shawn Still (Georgia state senator). The indictment alleged that these individuals knowingly participated in creating and submitting false documents, and that they did so at the direction and encouragement of Trump and his lawyers. The fake elector scheme represented a crucial component of Trump’s broader strategy to create confusion and provide Vice President Mike Pence with a pretext to delay or reject electoral vote certification.

The 18 Co-Defendants

The breadth of the indictment was reflected in its 19 defendants, making it the most comprehensive criminal case related to election subversion efforts. The co-defendants included high-profile Trump advisors and attorneys:

• Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, faced 13 counts including RICO violations for his role in promoting false election fraud claims and pressuring state officials
• Mark Meadows, Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, was charged with solicitation of violation of oath for his involvement in the Raffensperger call and other pressure campaigns
• John Eastman, attorney who authored legal memos claiming Mike Pence could reject electoral votes
• Sidney Powell, attorney who promoted conspiracy theories about voting machines
• Jeffrey Clark, Justice Department official who attempted to use the DOJ to support Trump’s claims
• Kenneth Chesebro, attorney who helped orchestrate the fake electors scheme
• Jenna Ellis, attorney and legal advisor

The remaining defendants included lawyers, political operatives, and individuals involved in efforts to access voting equipment in Coffee County, Georgia, as part of efforts to prove (unfounded) claims of voting machine fraud.

Willis’s Case Strategy

District Attorney Willis, a Democrat elected in 2020, had spent more than two years building the case through her office’s special grand jury investigation. She empaneled a special purpose grand jury that heard from 75 witnesses over seven months, including Giuliani, Eastman, and several of the fake electors. The special grand jury recommended indictments for multiple individuals, though the final charging decisions came from a regular grand jury.

Willis emphasized that the case was not political but about enforcing Georgia law against those who violated it. She noted that Georgia’s RICO statute provided the appropriate framework for prosecuting what she characterized as an organized conspiracy involving multiple actors across several months. The RICO approach also allowed her to introduce evidence of acts that occurred outside Georgia, as long as they were part of the overall conspiracy that targeted Georgia’s election results.

Trump’s Response and Political Impact

Trump immediately attacked the indictment as “a witch hunt” and characterized Willis as politically motivated. His campaign fundraised off the charges, raising millions of dollars within days. Trump’s attacks on Willis became increasingly personal and racially charged, leading Willis to request additional security and later cite these attacks as evidence of the ongoing threat to election officials who refuse to bend to political pressure.

The indictment came just two weeks after Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal indictment for similar conduct, but the Georgia case carried particular risks for Trump. Unlike federal charges, which a president could potentially pardon, Georgia state charges are not pardonable by the president. Only the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles can grant pardons for state convictions, and only after sentences are served. This made the Georgia case uniquely threatening to Trump’s long-term legal exposure.

Unprecedented Legal and Constitutional Questions

The indictment raised extraordinary questions about prosecuting a former president and his senior advisors for conduct related to their official duties. Several defendants, including Meadows and Clark, sought to remove their cases to federal court, arguing their actions were taken in their federal official capacities. These removal efforts were largely unsuccessful, keeping the cases in Georgia state court.

The breadth of the indictment - 19 defendants, 41 counts against Trump alone, 161 alleged acts - reflected both the comprehensiveness of the conspiracy and the challenges of prosecuting it. Willis required all defendants to surrender and be booked at the Fulton County jail, creating the historic moment of Trump’s mugshot on August 24, 2023.

Delays and Ultimate Outcome

The case faced numerous delays, including challenges over Willis’s relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which led to extended pre-trial litigation. Trump’s legal team employed delay tactics, and after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, the case effectively stalled. An appellate court eventually disqualified Willis from the case in December 2024 due to the appearance of impropriety from her relationship with Wade.

Despite the eventual collapse of the prosecution, the indictment stood as a comprehensive historical record of the attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. It documented, in meticulous detail, how a former president and his allies allegedly conducted a coordinated conspiracy to subvert democratic processes and maintain power through illegal means. The case represented the most ambitious effort to hold Trump accountable for election subversion, even as political and legal obstacles prevented it from reaching trial.