Indictment handed up in 2020 Georgia election investigation

ATLANTA — The grand jury hearing evidence against former President Donald Trump and others has handed up an indictment in the case.

The judge did not read the charges or name anyone who has been listed in those indictment. Later Monday night, Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne learned these details after seeing the indictment moments before it was made public.

You can read the indictment here.

The Trump campaign released a statement, saying:

“Like Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Deranged Jack Smith, and New York AG Letitia James, Fulton County, GA’s radical Democrat District Attorney Fani Willis is a rabid partisan who is campaigning and fundraising on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictments. Ripping a page from Crooked Joe Biden’s playbook, Willis has strategically stalled her investigation to try and maximally interfere with the 2024 presidential race and damage the dominant Trump campaign. All of these corrupt Democrat attempts will fail.

“Combined with the intentionally slow-walked investigations by the Biden-Smith goon squads and the false charges in New York, the timing of this latest coordinated strike by a biased prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democrat jurisdiction not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also exposes true motivation driving their fabricated accusations.

“They could have brought this two and half years ago, yet they chose to do this for election interference reasons in the middle of President Trump’s successful campaign. He is not only leading all Republicans by a lot but he is leading against Joe Biden in almost every poll. President Trump represents the greatest threat to these Democrats’ political futures (and the greatest hope for America).

“The legal double-standard set against President Trump must end. Under the Crooked Biden Cartel, there are no rules for Democrats, while Republicans face criminal charges for exercising their First Amendment rights.

“These activities by Democrat leaders constitute a grave threat to American democracy and are direct attempts to deprive the American people of their rightful choice to cast their vote for President. Call it election interference or election manipulation—it is a dangerous effort by the ruling class to suppress the choice of the people. It is un-American and wrong.

“They are taking away President Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech, and the right to challenge a rigged and stolen election that the Democrats do all the time. The ones who should be prosecuted are the ones who created the corruption.

“President Trump will never give up and will never stop fighting for you, as we all work to Make America Great Again in 2024.”

Channel 2 Action News cameras caught former state Sen. Jen Jordan, former state Rep. Bee Nguyen and Gabriel Sterling with the Secretary of State’s Office walking into the courthouse Monday to testify for that grand jury as well.

[TIMELINE: Fulton County grand jury investigation into potential interference in Georgia elections]

Nguyen was on one of the committee hearings when Rudy Giuliani and his associates made numerous false claims of massive voter fraud and insisted the legislature had the legal authority to throw out the popular vote.

“This is your power, your obligation, and I know it’s surprising. I’ve been before state legislatures who didn’t realize it and really do,” Giuliani told the committee in December 2020.

After her testimony, Nguyen sent Channel 2′s Richard Elliot a statement acknowledging her appearance before the grand jury.

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“I believe that any individual who wrongfully and illegally tried to overturn our valid election should be held accountable so that we can have a government of laws and not of men,” Nguyen said, in part.

Sterling was a guest on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday and told host Jonathan Karl that would testify truthfully.

“My lawyers haven’t said I can talk too much about this one way or the other. So, but if I am called, when I am called, I will go in and do it, like I did before. I will tell the truth, answer honestly. That’s all we can do in this situation,” Sterling said.

Georgia State University professor Clark Cunningham told Elliot that he believes the grand jury will consider a number of underlying crimes including lying to Georgia lawmakers, but will all fall under a larger racketeering charge.

“Some of those things are racketeering crimes under Georgia law that could be used in putting together an indictment against the former president and people that he used in fact to assist him,” Cunningham said.

Earlier Monday, there was some confusion after the Fulton County clerk’s office posted what looked like an indictment of Trump.

At least one international news organization ran with it before the document was taken down.

The clerk’s office sent out a statement, saying:

“The Office of the Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts has learned of a fictitious document that has been circulated online and reported by various media outlets related to The Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury.

“While there have been no documents filed today regarding such, all members of the media should be reminded that documents that do not bear an official case number, filing date, and the name of The Clerk of Courts, in concert, are not considered official filings and should not be treated as such.

“Media members can expect to be notified of any/all filings in real time and will be provided access to filings via equitable communication.

“As the official custodian of various county records, the Clerk of Courts understands the sensitivity of all court filings, especially those that are at the forefront of the national spotlight and remains committed to operating with an extreme level of efficiency, accuracy, and transparency.”

Trump’s attorneys also released a statement, saying:

“The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has once again shown that they have no respect for the integrity of the grand jury process. This was not a simple administrative mistake. A proposed indictment should only be in the hands of the District Attorney’s Office, yet it somehow made its way to the clerk’s office and was assigned a case number and a judge before the grand jury even deliberated. This is emblematic of the pervasive and glaring constitutional violations which have plagued this case from its very inception.”

RELATED NEWS:

Grand jury begins hearing testimony at Fulton County Courthouse

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