Trump Committed 'Multiple Crimes' With Georgia Election Interference, Analysis Suggests
Former President Donald Trump appears to have committed "multiple crimes" in his effort to overturn the 2020 Georgia elections results, a new legal analysis suggests.
In early January, The Washington Post reported leaked audio of a call between Trump and Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the former president urged the Republican official to "to find 11,780 votes" in his favor to overturn President Joe Biden's victory in the southern state. Trump made a similar effort to pressure Georgia's GOP Governor Brian Kemp to illegally block Biden's win.
"We conclude that Trump's post-election conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes," said the report released Friday by the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
"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 legal analysis explained.
The report from Brookings was compiled based on publicly available reporting and evidence. The legal analysts reviewed the audio recording of Trump's call with Raffensperger as a key piece of evidence against the former president.
"Our view is anchored by a close reading of the relevant portions of Georgia's legal code, an unpacking of the extant case law defining the stated crimes, and a searching examination of the main likely defenses," the report authors explained.
Georgia's Fulton County district attorney launched a criminal probe into Trump's conduct about seven months ago. The prosecutors involved with that investigation have interviewed at least four of Raffensperger's aides, issued subpoenas for witnesses and documents and coordinated their efforts with the House select committee investigating the pro-Trump January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Trump and his right-wing allies continue to baselessly claim that the 2020 election was "rigged" or "stolen" in favor of Biden. They have not provided evidence to substantiate this extraordinary allegation, and multiple audits and recounts in Georgia have already reaffirmed Biden's narrow victory there. Raffensperger, who voted for Trump and donated to the former president's campaign, has drawn the ire of Trump and his loyalist supporters for refusing to back their election misinformation.
"He knows in his heart that he lost the election," Raffensperger told the Washington Examiner in a Friday interview.
"He's continued to promote the Big Lie, and then he's also fundraising off this issue..." the GOP official lamented.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press representatives for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
