In Georgia, a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s behavior after the election expands and excludes the close ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, in, according to a Washington Post report Friday.
The investigation, which was opened earlier this month by the Fulton County District Attorney, will investigate whether Trump – and now Graham – violated state law in the course of Trump’s attempt to block the election results in Georgia after the 2020 presidential election.
“According to Secretary of State for Georgia Brad Raffensperger, Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, asked Raffensperger in November if the Secretary of State has the power to cast all ballot papers in certain Georgia provinces.” a move that could potentially give the state, and its 16 election votes, to Trump in the November election.
Raffensperger was reportedly ‘dumbfounded’ by Graham’s question and rejected the idea, which would have been beyond his power as secretary of state. After much narration, President Joe Biden finally won Georgia by 11,779 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1992.
A Graham spokesman told the Post that Graham had done nothing wrong, and suggested the investigation could be politically motivated.
“Sen. “Graham asked how the signature verification process works,” the spokesman said. “He never asked the Secretary of State to disqualify a ballot paper by anyone. The timing on this is also very curious. It appears to be a less-than-transparent attempt to marginalize someone who helps President Trump. ‘
The Graham-Raffensperger conversation was first revealed by Raffensperger himself in a November interview with the Washington Post, and the subsequent post by the Post also revealed a conversation between Trump and Raffensperger in early January this year.
In that call, Trump explicitly asked Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to give him the election.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is more than we have,” Trump told Raffensperger. The general council of his department, Ryan Germany, and the deputy foreign minister, Jordan Fuchs, joined the call.
Trump has also repeatedly denied that he lost the election in Georgia and raised a number of discredited conspiracy theories.
“I think it’s shredding ballot papers based on what I heard,” Trump told Raffensperger, according to a transcript of the call. ‘And they remove machinery and move it as fast as they can, which are both criminal findings. And you can not make it happen, and you make it happen too. ”
It is unclear exactly how much legal danger Trump and Graham face, but a letter from Willis on Wednesday indicates that her investigation will look broadly at possible criminal offenses regarding the election in Georgia, including ‘the invitation of election fraud, the making of false statements. to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of the oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the administration of the election. ”
Neither Trump nor Graham are mentioned by name in the letter, but Willis has indicated that prosecutors will look into the actions of both men. According to the New York Times, the investigation will also include conspiracies of election fraud spread by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as well as the dismissal of Byung J. Pak, then the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Pak was reportedly forced out of office by the White House in early January for refusing to open an election fraud investigation.
According to Ian Millhiser of Vox, it is the temptation of election fraud that may be of most concern to Trump. As he explained on Wednesday:
[Georgia law] makes it a crime to ask another person to commit an offense ‘with the intent that another person acts as an offense.’
So, to the extent that Trump has tried to recruit Raffensperger, or anyone else, to tamper with the election results, he could face criminal charges. A person convicted of a crime in Georgia ‘shall be punished by a term of imprisonment of at least one year or more than three years’ (although the penalty may be higher if they commit a crime punishable by life imprisonment or by death).
In addition, Georgian law makes it a crime to ‘make criminal requests to commit electoral fraud’.
In an interview with the New York Times, Willis also stressed the possibility that hooliganism, which is mostly used to deal with organized crime, could come into play.
“If you have various open acts for an illegal purpose, I think you can get there,” she said of possible racketeering charges.
Trump is right in trouble from all directions
As the Fulton County sin emphasizes, Trump and Graham may have already managed to land themselves in hot water in Georgia. But Trump’s potential legal exposure goes far beyond that and involves issues other than the 2020 election.
Specifically, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance are both investigating several Trump properties and possible financial crimes committed by Trump and his company.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Vance’s investigation has expanded into loans attached to four Trump buildings in New York: Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, Trump International Hotel and Tower, and Trump Plaza.
This is in addition to an existing investigation by Vance’s office into possible insurance and bank fraud by the Trump Organization, according to the WSJ.
James, meanwhile, is investigating possible fraud related to Trump’s Seven Springs estate in Westchester County, New York, as well as other properties. The investigation seeks to determine whether Trump manipulated the valuations on the estate to ensure a tax break in conservation, after plans to develop the land fell through, according to the New York Times.
At least one of Trump’s children, Eric Trump, has already been dropped in the case after his testimony was compelled by a judge last year.
As with Willis’ investigation into Georgia, it’s unclear what great legal danger the New York investigation could ultimately end up with Trump – but now that he’s a private citizen again, he’s undoubtedly more vulnerable to such actions.
“In some of the investigations, the U.S. Department of Justice even intervened, even though the case was about Trump’s private actions,” Andrea Bernstein, WNYC, told NPR on Friday. “But now Trump does not have those extra tools. He’s just an ordinary citizen. So while he can and argues that the investigation is politically motivated, he must now defend himself like everyone else. ‘