- Donald Trump could be charged with crimes over Georgia election interference, a new report says.
- The report says Trump and his allies pressured Georgia officials to overturn his loss in the state.
- Trump is facing several probes in relation to his postelection conduct in Georgia.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Former President Donald Trump could be charged with multiple crimes over election interference in Georgia, a new analysis says.
The report by the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank in Washington, DC, analyzed publicly available evidence which showed that Trump and his allies attempted to pressure Georgia officials to “change the lawful outcome of the election.”
A key piece of evidence is the now-infamous call made by Trump to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 3, where the former president told him to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn now-President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
“There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump repeatedly said throughout the call. “There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”
Those assertions were false, as Biden won the state by nearly 12,000 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry the longtime Republican stronghold since 1992.
The report added that Trump publicly pressured and personally contacted several other Republican officials in Georgia to ask for their help in overturning his electoral loss in the state, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr. Trump reportedly placed direct calls to the officials in December to urge them to go along with “his increasingly desperate plans to decertify his loss.”
“We conclude that Trump’s postelection conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes,” the report said. “These charges potentially include criminal solicitation to commit election fraud; intentional interference with performance of election duties; conspiracy to commit election fraud; criminal solicitation; and state RICO violations.”
The report also added that criminal liability could extend to some Trump allies, including his former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani appeared before committees in the Georgia Capitol with the intent of convincing state lawmakers to “take extraordinary action to reverse Biden’s win,” the report notes.
In February, Raffensperger’s office opened a probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in the state.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis also launched a criminal investigation into Trump’s conduct related to the election.
The Brookings Institution report analyzed these probes and suggests the crimes that Trump could be charged with, along with his legal defenses.
The report suggests that Trump would likely claim immunity, arguing that he cannot be prosecuted for actions taken while he was in office.
Former presidents enjoy a measure of immunity for actions taken that “fall within the scope of their lawful duties as a federal official,” according to the report.
However, in this case, Trump’s actions were “well outside the scope of his official duties,” the report noted.
For months, Trump has continued to promote debunked claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent, speaking of ballots coming from ceilings and pushing for forensic vote audits in closely-contested states like Arizona and Wisconsin.
The former president is currently facing several criminal probes over his conduct while in office, as well as his personal finances.
Read the original article on Business Insider
