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☆ Georgia Court Will Hear Appeal of Ruling That Kept Prosecutor on Trump Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Richard Fausset | More About Richard Fausset | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Georgia Court of Appeals will hear an appeal of a ruling that allowed Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, to continue leading the prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump on charges related to election interference, the court announced on Wednesday. The decision to hear the appeal, handed down by a three-judge panel, is likely to further delay the Georgia criminal case against Mr. Trump and 14 of his allies, making it less likely that the case will go to trial before the November election. The terse three-sentence announcement reopens the possibility that Ms. Willis could be disqualified from the biggest case of her career, and one of the most significant state criminal cases in the nation’s history. At issue is a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, a lawyer she hired to handle the prosecution of Mr. Trump. Defense lawyers argued that the relationship amounted to an untenable conflict of interest, and that Ms. Willis and her entire office should be removed from the case.

Persons: Fani, Willis, Donald J, Trump, Nathan Wade Organizations: Trump . Defense Locations: Georgia, Fulton County

For much of this year, the high-profile case took a detour as Mr. Trump and his co-defendants sought to disqualify Ms. Willis, claiming that her romantic relationship with Nathan J. But last month, Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton Superior Court ruled that an actual conflict of interest did not exist. He allowed Ms. Willis to keep the case, though only if Mr. Wade stepped aside to resolve an “appearance of impropriety.” Mr. Wade resigned after the ruling. Lawyers for Mr. Trump and other defendants have asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to reverse the decision. The court, which leans conservative, has until mid-May to decide whether to take up the matter.

Persons: Willis, Donald J, Trump, Nathan J, Wade, Scott McAfee, Mr Organizations: Trump, Fulton Superior Court, Mr Locations: Fulton County ,, Fulton, Georgia

In a surprise move on Wednesday, a judge in Atlanta quashed six of the charges against former President Donald J. Trump and his allies in the sprawling Georgia election interference case, including one related to a call that Mr. Trump made to pressure Georgia’s secretary of state in early January 2021. The judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton Superior Court, left intact the rest of the racketeering indictment, which initially included 41 counts. The ruling was not related to a defense effort to disqualify Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., who is leading the case. The nine-page ruling on Wednesday took aim at charges asserting that Mr. Trump and other defendants had solicited public officials to break the law. For example, one count against Mr. Trump said that he “unlawfully solicited, requested and importuned” the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to violate his oath of office by decertifying the election.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Scott McAfee, Fani, Willis, “, importuned, Brad Raffensperger Organizations: Fulton Superior Court Locations: Atlanta, Georgia, Fulton, Fulton County ,

The accusations do not change the underlying facts in the Trump prosecution. A Georgia grand jury already brought racketeering indictments against Mr. Trump and 18 others over their roles in a plot to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. There are also calls for a new state board, created to oversee district attorneys, to review Ms. Willis’s conduct. On Monday, Mr. Roman’s lawyer, argued during a brief hearing in suburban Cobb County that the Wade divorce records, sealed since February 2022, had not been sealed properly. Judge Henry R. Thompson of Cobb County Superior Court agreed, unsealing the divorce file.

Persons: Roman, Wade, Willis, Trump, Trump’s, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Wade “, ” Mr, Willis’s, Roman’s, Henry R, Thompson Organizations: Mr, Court, The New York Times Locations: Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami, Georgia, Fulton County, Cobb County

☆ Trump’s Georgia Lawyer Has Been Quiet. That May Soon Change.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Richard Fausset | More About Richard Fausset | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Steven H. Sadow, the lead lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump in his Georgia criminal case, has been praised by the Atlanta rapper T.I. — one of Mr. Sadow’s former clients — as “probably the best criminal defense attorney of his time,” a man with “a slight hint of genius.”If so, much of that genius has remained bottled up since Mr. Trump’s indictment in Georgia over the summer. Mr. Sadow has only rarely spoken publicly about the case. His minimalist approach stands in marked contrast to those of other, more voluble lawyers that Mr. Trump has retained around the country to deal with his legal problems. It has also lent a certain dramatic tension to the Georgia case.

Persons: Steven H, Sadow, Donald J, Trump, T.I, —, ”, Trump’s Organizations: Atlanta Locations: Georgia, Atlanta

Prosecutors in Atlanta will ask a judge on Tuesday to revoke the bond of Harrison Floyd, who was indicted along with former President Donald J. Trump in the Georgia election interference case. The district attorney overseeing the case filed a motion last week accusing Mr. Floyd of intimidating potential witnesses through his social media posts. Mr. Floyd’s lawyers argued in a new filing that the posts were not intimidating. Moreover, they noted that Mr. Trump himself had issued provocative social media posts about the case, and that no action had been taken against him. The indictment charges Mr. Trump and his co-defendants with orchestrating a “criminal enterprise” to reverse the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Persons: Harrison Floyd, Donald J, Trump, Floyd, Scott McAfee Organizations: Fulton County Superior Court, Trump Locations: Atlanta, Georgia, Fulton County

☆ Why Georgia Republicans Are Protecting the D.A. Who Indicted Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Richard Fausset | More About Richard Fausset | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Colton Moore, a 30-year-old auctioneer from rural Dade County, Ga., enjoys rare bragging rights for a freshman state senator. His move mirrored House efforts to investigate or strip funding from the office of Jack Smith, the special counsel leading the federal prosecutions of Mr. Trump. But in Georgia, it got Mr. Moore booted out of the Senate Republican caucus. Mr. Moore’s excommunication demonstrates that there are limits to Georgia Republicans’ tolerance for Trumpian high jinks that would derail the case against the former president. They want to say, ‘Listen we can run this state, we can take stands that keep us prosperous.’”

Persons: Colton Moore, Donald J, Trump, ”, Moore, Willis, Jack Smith, Brian Kemp, Roy E, Barnes Organizations: Republican, Georgia Republicans, Gov Locations: Dade County, Atlanta, Georgia

Defendants in such cases “got involved in the criminal enterprise,” she said. In fact, they earned it.”Ms. Willis’s office charged Mr. Trump and 18 other defendants with participating in a criminal enterprise aimed at changing the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Four of the defendants have already taken plea deals, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. Her comments, at a women’s conference held by The Washington Post, came as her office sought an emergency protective order banning the release of discovery materials in the Georgia case. On Monday, videos of private testimony from the defendants who have entered into plea agreements were leaked to several news outlets; Ms. Willis’s office said it did not leak the videos, which it had shared with defense lawyers.

Persons: Willis, Donald J, Trump, “, Ms Organizations: The Washington Post Locations: Atlanta, Georgia

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, former President Donald J. Trump planned to refuse to leave the White House “under any circumstances” despite losing at the polls, a longtime Trump aide told one of the lawyers who is cooperating with prosecutors in Atlanta as part of a plea agreement. The lawyer, Jenna Ellis, described the aide’s statement during an interview with the district attorney’s office in Fulton County, Ga., parts of which were obtained and published on Monday by ABC News. Such interviews, known as proffer statements, have been conducted with Ms. Ellis and three other defendants who reached plea agreements in the Georgia election interference case against Mr. Trump and more than a dozen of his allies. ABC obtained excerpts from the interviews with Ms. Ellis and Sidney Powell, another lawyer indicted in the case.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Jenna Ellis, Ellis, Sidney Powell Organizations: Trump, ABC News, ABC Locations: Atlanta, Fulton County ,, Georgia

☆ Pastor Indicted With Trump in Georgia Asks Evangelical Supporters for Help
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Richard Fausset | More About Richard Fausset | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Stephen C. Lee is one of the lesser-known figures indicted with former President Donald J. Trump in Fulton County, Ga., on charges of unlawfully conspiring to keep Mr. Trump in power after the 2020 election. But on Thursday night at an evangelical church near Chicago, dozens of people held their arms aloft and prayed over Pastor Lee at a fund-raiser where he was portrayed as an American hero — and a victim of religious persecution. “We’re going to be talking about the weaponization of government against religion,” Gary S. Franchi, Jr., a host on a conservative online news channel, declared from the pulpit at Families of Faith Ministries in Channahon, Ill., at the start of the event. “We’re going to be supporting ‘America’s chaplain,’ and religious liberty, here tonight.”Pastor Lee, 71, is a former law enforcement officer who became a Lutheran minister and currently leads a small church in Orland Park, Ill. He says he has offered spiritual support to police officers and victims after some of the worst American tragedies of the last quarter-century, including the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado and the Sept. 11 attack in New York.

Persons: Stephen C, Lee, Donald J, Trump, Pastor Lee, —, “ We’re, Gary S, Franchi, Jr, ‘, ” Pastor Lee Organizations: Faith Ministries, Columbine High School Locations: Fulton County ,, Chicago, American, Channahon ,, Orland Park, Colorado, New York

Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., had no shortage of doubters when she brought an ambitious racketeering case in August against former president Donald J. Trump and 18 of his allies. It was too broad, they said, and too complicated, with so many defendants and multiple, crisscrossing plot lines for jurors to follow. But the power of Georgia’s racketeering statute in Ms. Willis’s hands has become apparent over the last six days. While Ms. Powell pleaded guilty only to misdemeanor charges, both Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Ellis accepted a felony charge as part of their plea agreements. A fourth defendant, a Georgia bail bondsman named Scott Hall, pleaded guilty last month to five misdemeanor charges.

Persons: Willis, Donald J, Trump, Willis’s, Sidney K, Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Chesebro, Ellis, bondsman, Scott Hall Organizations: Trump Locations: Fulton County ,, Georgia

Jenna Ellis, a pro-Trump lawyer who amplified former President Donald J. Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud as part of what she called a legal “elite strike force team,” pleaded guilty on Tuesday as part of a deal with prosecutors in Georgia. Addressing a judge in an Atlanta courtroom, she tearfully expressed regret for taking part in efforts to keep Mr. Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Ms. Ellis, 38, pleaded guilty to a charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writings, a felony. She is the fourth defendant to plead guilty in the Georgia case, which charged Mr. Trump and 18 others with conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Mr. Trump’s favor. She has already written an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia, and she agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors as the case progresses.

Persons: Jenna Ellis, Donald J, ”, Trump, Ellis, Trump’s Organizations: Trump Locations: Georgia, Atlanta

Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer criminally charged in Georgia for his role in what prosecutors describe as a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election in favor of Donald J. Trump, accepted a plea deal on Friday, becoming the third of 19 co-defendants to plead guilty in the wide-ranging criminal racketeering indictment that also names Mr. Trump. The plea from Mr. Chesebro, 62, came a day after Sidney K. Powell, another Trump-aligned lawyer charged in the case, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. Both defendants had exercised their right to a speedy trial under Georgia law, and had been preparing for jury selection to start on Monday. Under the agreement, Mr. Chesebro pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing of false documents and was sentenced to five years’ probation, although if he complies with its terms he may later ask that his probation be reduced to three years. He was also instructed to write a letter of apology to the state of Georgia (he said he had already done so) and to pay $5,000 in restitution to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, Donald J, Trump, Chesebro, Sidney K, Powell, Chesebro’s, “, Scott Hall, bondsman Organizations: Trump Locations: Georgia, Fulton County ,, Atlanta

Sidney K. Powell, a member of Donald J. Trump’s legal team after he lost the 2020 election, pleaded guilty on Thursday morning to six misdemeanor counts instead of facing a criminal trial that was to begin next week. She was among 19 defendants, including Mr. Trump, who were indicted in August for their efforts to subvert the election results in Georgia. Ms. Powell, 68, who appeared in a downtown Atlanta courtroom, was sentenced to six years of probation for conspiracy to commit intentional interference of election duties. Prosecutors said in court that Ms. Powell had given them a recorded statement on Wednesday as part of her plea deal. Ms. Powell has also agreed to turn over documents in her possession related to the case.

Persons: Sidney K, Powell, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Prosecutors Locations: Georgia, Atlanta

The exchange, which prosecutors will almost certainly use against Mr. Meadows at trial, underscored the high-stakes gamble that he took by testifying. Mr. Meadows has appealed. But his testimony may have given ammunition to Georgia prosecutors as they prepare to try him, Mr. Trump and the 17 other defendants. “He did do a number of things which will make the prosecutors’ job easier,” said Caren Morrison, a former federal prosecutor and associate law professor at Georgia State University, of Mr. Meadows’s testimony. During the hearing in Atlanta, Mr. Meadows portrayed himself as a supremely busy man whose White House job often put him at the nexus of policy and politics.

Persons: Meadows, Steve C, Jones, Trump, “, ”, Caren Morrison, “ He’s Organizations: District, Georgia State University, Trump, ”, White Locations: U.S, Georgia, Atlanta

The filing was the latest legal volley in the case, which Mr. Trump sought to quash even before his indictment in mid-August. It came as little surprise to legal analysts watching the case, who had expected Mr. Trump’s lawyers to mount an aggressive defense long before the start of a trial. Mr. Smith, a lawyer based in Atlanta who helped Mr. Trump’s team challenge his loss in Georgia after the election, faces a dozen charges in the case. And, prosecutors charge, he took part in the efforts to get fake Trump electors to cast votes and sign documents that falsely claimed that he had won the election. Mr. Smith has pleaded not guilty.

Persons: Mr, Donald F, Samuel, Fani, Willis, Sadow, Trump, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Smith, Trump’s Organizations: Trump Locations: United States, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

A potential case against Mr. Graham, for example, would have been hampered by the fact that there were conflicting accounts of telephone calls he made to a top Georgia official. Mr. Graham has repeatedly said that he did nothing wrong. Fulton County prosecutors indicated in court filings last year that they were interested in those calls by Mr. Graham, a onetime critic of Mr. Trump who became a staunch supporter. Mr. Raffensperger has said that in those calls, Mr. Graham suggested the rejection of all mail-in votes from Georgia counties with high rates of questionable signatures, a step that would have excluded many more Democratic votes than Republican ones. A few weeks after the calls, Mr. Trump followed up with a call of his own to Mr. Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, saying that he wanted to “find” roughly 12,000 votes, enough to reverse his loss in Georgia.

Persons: Graham, Mr, Trump, Brad Raffensperger, Raffensperger, Graham’s, “, Donald Trump, Trump’s Organizations: Georgia, Democratic, Republican Locations: Fulton, Georgia

Georgia prosecutors leading the criminal election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump and 18 of his allies notched a victory on Friday when a judge rejected an effort by Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s former White House chief of staff, to move his case from state court to federal court. But removal to federal court would have given him key advantages, including a jury pool that was more favorable to Mr. Trump. Conducting a trial in federal court would have also increased the likelihood that the United States Supreme Court, a third of whose members were nominated by Mr. Trump, would ultimately get involved in the case. The setback for Mr. Meadows came in the first of many rulings that are expected for the defendants who are seeking to have their cases moved out of state court. Mr. Trump has not filed for a removal to federal court, but he is widely expected to do so.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mark Meadows, Trump’s, Meadows, ” Organizations: White House, Mr, United States Supreme Locations: Georgia

Two of Donald J. Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election-interference case will go to trial together on Oct. 23, a judge ruled on Wednesday. The defendants, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, had asked to be tried separately from one another. The ruling from Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, however, is contingent on the case remaining in state court — a situation that could change if other defendants succeed at moving the case into a federal courtroom. Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, is still holding out hope that all 19 defendants in the racketeering case can be tried together. But during the hearing, Judge McAfee said he remained “very skeptical” that a single trial for all 19 defendants could work.

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Scott McAfee, Fani, Willis, Judge McAfee, Powell, Chesebro Organizations: Fulton County Superior Court Locations: Georgia, Fulton County

Former President Donald J. Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday and waived his arraignment in the Georgia criminal case charging him and 18 of his allies with interfering in the 2020 election. It remains unclear where or when Mr. Trump will be put on trial in the case, one of four that he has been charged in this year. The 19 defendants in the Georgia case are sparring with Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, over when a trial might start and whether it will be in state or federal court, leaving two judges in courtrooms only a few blocks apart in downtown Atlanta to wrangle with defense lawyers pulling in different directions. “I do hereby waive formal arraignment and enter my plea of NOT GUILTY,” Mr. Trump stated in a two-page filing on Thursday morning. He wrote that he had discussed the charges with his lawyer, Steven H. Sadow, adding: “I fully understand the nature of the offenses charged,” and that he waived his right to appear at arraignment, which had been scheduled to take place in Atlanta next Wednesday.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Fani, Willis, ” Mr, Steven H Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta

Removing a case to federal court requires persuading a judge that the actions under scrutiny were carried out by federal officers as part of their official business. Earlier this year, Mr. Trump failed in his attempt to move a New York State criminal case against him to federal court; his argument in that case was seen as particularly tenuous. Presiding over the hearing on Mr. Meadows’s motion Monday was Judge Steve C. Jones of United States District Court in Atlanta. The judge ruled that the law was clear that “state court proceedings continue” until a decision has been reached on removal. Judge Jones is an Obama appointee to the federal bench who has been moving quickly regarding the removal question.

Persons: Trump, Steve C, Jones, Judge Jones, Meadows’s, Scott McAfee, Judge McAfee, Brian Kemp, Willis, Obama Organizations: New York State, United States, Court, Fulton County Superior Court, Republican, Federalist Society Locations: New, Atlanta, Fulton, Fulton County

In the Georgia case, the question of whether to change the venue — a legal maneuver known as removal — matters because it would affect the composition of a jury. If the case stays in Fulton County, Ga., the jury will come from a bastion of Democratic politics where Mr. Trump was trounced in 2020. If the case is removed to federal court, the jury will be drawn from a 10-county region of Georgia that is more suburban and rural — and somewhat more Trump-friendly. Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who advised Mr. Trump after the 2020 election, has asked for a speedy trial, and the presiding state judge has agreed to it. In the separate federal election interference case Mr. Trump faces in Washington, D.C., his lawyers have asked that the trial start safely beyond November 2024 general election — in April 2026.

Persons: Trump, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Chesebro, Scott McAfee, Trump’s, — Organizations: Trump, Republican, Washington , D.C Locations: Georgia, Fulton County ,, —, Washington ,

☆ Jeffrey Clark, Former Justice Department Official, Booked in Trump Georgia Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Richard Fausset | More About Richard Fausset | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jeffrey A. Clark, the former high-ranking Justice Department official criminally charged in Georgia in connection with efforts to overturn Donald J. Trump’s 2020 election loss in that state, was booked at the Fulton County Jail early on Friday, a few hours after the former president’s dramatic booking at the same Atlanta facility. Mr. Clark was one of five defendants in the case who turned themselves in at the jail after Mr. Trump did so at 7:35 p.m. Thursday, their appearances stretching well into the night. The last two defendants in the case, Trevian C. Kutti and Steven C. Lee, surrendered on Friday morning before noon, the deadline the Fulton County district attorney, Fani T. Willis, had set for them to appear at the jail before she would start to issue arrest warrants. All but one of the 19 defendants negotiated bail agreements with prosecutors ahead of time, and were released immediately after being processed at the jail. The one defendant who did not do so was expected to have a bail hearing on Friday.

Persons: Jeffrey A, Clark, Donald J, Trump’s, Trump, Kutti, Steven C, Lee, Fani, Willis Organizations: Jail Locations: Georgia, Fulton, Atlanta, Fulton County

Former President Donald J. Trump surrendered at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta on Thursday and was booked on 13 felony charges for his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia. It was an extraordinary scene: a former U.S. president who flew on his own jet to Atlanta and surrendered at a jail compound surrounded by concertina wire and signs that directed visitors to the “prisoner intake” area. As Mr. Trump’s motorcade of black S.U.V.s drove to the jail through cleared streets, preceded by more than a dozen police motorcycles — a trip captured by news helicopters and broadcast live on national television — two worlds collided in ways never before seen in American political history. The nation’s former commander in chief walked into a notorious jail, one that has been cited in rap lyrics and is the subject of a Department of Justice investigation into unsanitary and unsafe conditions, including allegations that an “incarcerated person died covered in insects and filth.”The case is the fourth brought against Mr. Trump this year, but Thursday was the first time that he was booked at a jail.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, S.U.V.s Organizations: Department of Justice, Mr Locations: Fulton, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S

The case is the fourth time criminal charges have been brought against former President Donald J. Trump this year, but Thursday was the first time that he was booked at a jail and had his mug shot taken. Mr. Trump spent about 20 minutes at the Fulton County Jail, submitting to some of the routines of criminal defendant intake. He was given an identification number — P01135809 — in the Fulton County criminal justice system. He was finished in 20 minutes and on his way back to the airport, where his private plane was waiting. That weight is 24 pounds less than the White House doctor reported Mr. Trump weighing in 2018.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s Organizations: House Locations: Fulton, Fulton County, Fulton County’s

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