Part XIX - Indicted Again, Again!

 

Indicted Again – Again!! 

__________  

“Trump and the other Defendants charged in the indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.” 

Georgia indictment.

__________  

Cal Ripken set the record for most games played in a row.

 

THE BITTER FRUIT from the Trump presidency continues to rot under the glare of the hot Florida sun.  

August 14, 2023: Donald breaks the previous record set by a former president for number of criminal indictments.  

He held the previous record at three (3). That record was set on August 1, when Special Prosecutor Jack Smith revealed an indictment against him in the January 6 Insurrection Case. (See: Part XVIII: “Indicted Again.”) 

And the previous record at two (2), set in the Classified Documents Case on June 9. 

And the record for one (1), set when he was indicted in the Hush Money Case, on April 4, 2023. 

Now he holds a Cal Ripken-like record unlikely ever to be broken – at four. 

4!!!! 

Probable cause. 

AS USUAL, in Part XIX, we are highlighting links and comments and asides in the orange color that best matches the former president’s favorite pancake makeup. We will include all the absurdities Trump fans have to believe to believe that the four criminal indictments are the work of Marxist Democrats, witch hunting prosecutors, malign judges, and liberal-infested grand and regular juries. 

For starters, we should remember that all evidence gathered has been gathered with the help of search warrants issued by state and federal judges. Before a judge will issue a search warrant, he or she must be convinced that there is “probable cause” that crimes have been committed, or may be committed, to issue one. 

Trump has been indicted in liberal jurisdictions, not because it’s a plot, but because his crimes occurred in liberal jurisdictions. He was living in New York City in the fall of 2016, when he and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, allegedly conspired to violate campaign finance laws. And there’s no “allegedly,” with Mr. Cohen. 

He was sentenced to prison for his role. 

(You can look it up.) 

 

So it is, on August 14, that Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis secures another grand jury indictment of former President Donald John Trump. In the English system of justice, grand juries exist to protect defendants from abusive charges leveled against them by vindictive monarchs. 

We copy that system. 

 

This latest indictment includes a host of alleged accomplices: 

A. Rudy Giuliani, Trump lawyer

B. Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff

C. John Eastman, Trump lawyer

D. Kenneth Chesebro, Trump lawyer

E. Jeffrey Clark, top Justice Department official

F. Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign lawyer

G. Robert Cheeley, Georgia lawyer

H. Mike Roman, Trump campaign official

I. David Shafer, Georgia GOP chair and fake elector

J. Shawn Still, fake GOP elector

K. Stephen Lee, pastor

L. Harrison Floyd, leader of Black Voices for Trump

M. Trevian Kutti, publicist

N. Sidney Powell, Trump campaign lawyer

O. Cathy Latham, fake GOP elector

P. Scott Hall, tied to breach of Coffee County election system

Q. Misty Hampton, Coffee County elections supervisor

R. Ray Smith, Trump campaign attorney

 

“A,” “C,” “D,” “E” and “N” are listed as unindicted co-conspirators in the federal indictment filed against President Trump, to start the month. (See: Part XVIII.)

 

Chesebro has already agreed to a plea deal in the Georgia case and admitted to a felony. He must now testify truthfully against other defendants. 

Ellis has taken the same deal. 

Powell is third to cop a plea, but only to six misdemeanors. She must also testify truthfully against the others. 

Hall – same as Powell. 

Ellis smiled for her mugshot.
She wept later when she plead guilty to a felony.

In return for immunity, Mark Meadows, “B”, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the federal indictment against the former president. If you are Mr. Trump, even you know that can’t be good. 

(There will be a great deal of overlap in regard to indictments #3 and #4.) 

 

Mike Roman, “H”, has agreed to a plea deal, and is working with investigators in the federal indictment filed on August 1, 2023. 

We also know at least eight “fake electors” have agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in Georgia, and have not been charged. This will put immense pressure on other Trump accomplices to turn. 

(Innocent until proven guilty, of course.) 

 

“A conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome.” 

Having set the scene, let’s dive into the Georgia indictment. In the “Introduction,” we learn that, 

Defendant Donald John Trump lost the Unites States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in the indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.

 

That’s really the entire case. Trump lost – but he and the co-conspirators set out to turn a loss into a “win” through illegal means. This criminal enterprise operated not only in Fulton County but in “Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.” Much of the plotting also took place in the District of Columbia. 

 

Counting votes three times didn’t convince conspirators. 

The purpose of the conspiracy was clear: 

Members of the enterprise, including several of the Defendants, appeared at hearings in Fulton County, Georgia, before members of the Georgia General Assembly on December 3, 2020, December 10, 2020, and December 30, 2020. At these hearings, members of the enterprise made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election. The purpose of these false statements was to persuade Georgia legislators to reject lawful electoral votes cast by the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from Georgia. Members of the enterprise corruptly solicited Georgia legislators instead to unlawfully appoint their own presidential electors for the purpose of casting electoral votes for Donald Trump.

 

That’s the beating heart of the indictment, with all other crimes committed in furtherance of that goal. 

As laid out by prosecutors, despite the hard fact that votes were counted three times in Georgia – and Trump lost three times, the conspirators set out to overturn fair election results. Their goal was to remove sixteen electoral votes from Joseph Biden’s winning column. Those votes would be transferred to President Trump. 

(We finally have evidence of a real effort to steal the election!!) 

 

“Members of the conspiracy” didn’t just try to steal votes in Georgia. They made multiple “false statements in multiple states.” 

Several defendants and unindicted co-conspirators conspired to create “false Electoral College documents and recruited individuals to convene and cast false Electoral College votes at the Georgia State Capitol, in Fulton County, on December 14, 2020.” 

The false documents were intended to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, in order to unlawfully change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. (Similar schemes were executed by members of the enterprise in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.)

 

(None of the documents in Georgia were signed by the governor, as required by law.) 

 

Several co-conspirators set out to falsely accuse Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman of committing election crimes. “These false accusations were repeated to Georgia legislators and other Georgia officials in an effort to persuade them to unlawfully change the outcome of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.” 

Freeman and her daughter were overwhelmed by death threats.

 

Several members of this criminal enterprise “traveled from out of state to harass Freeman, intimidate her, and solicit her to falsely confess to election crimes that she did not commit.” 

(Harassment also engulfed Freeman’s daughter, “Shaye” Moss.) 

 

“Going down like a shot dog.” 

Trump and others “corruptly solicited high ranking United States Department of Justice officials to make false statements to government officials in Fulton County, Georgia, including the Governor, the [Georgia] Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President Pro Tempore of the [Georgia] Senate.” In one instance, the president grew frustrated when Acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to go along with his plot. “Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” he told Rosen. 

In a meeting on December 21, 2020, we know the following members of Congress met with Mr. Trump to game out ways to overturn the fair 2020 election results: 

Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona. 

Then-Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama. 

(Rep. Brooks will admit that even after the riot on January 6, 2021, Trump implored him to break the law.) 

Then-Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. 

Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia. 

Hice told reporters he was going to protest the counting of the electoral votes on January 6, 2021. “The courts refuse to hear the President’s legal case,” he claimed. “We’re going to make sure the People can!” 

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. 

(Unlike this blogger, Hice was too lazy to follow the news.) 

(Team Trump filed 62 court challenges to overturn the 2020 vote, and lost 62.) 

 

The way the U.S. Constitution was designed, senators, elected for six-year terms, are less easily swayed by voter anger and overreaction, which often quickly abates. At the time of this meeting, Sen. John Thune, a Republican representing South Dakota, correctly predicted that the plan being put forward by House members was “going down like a shot dog.” 

Rep. Andy Biggs - big, big fan of Donald Trump.

FUN FACT: During testimony in Congress, White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson named several members of that body who had sought pardons from President Trump before he left office. 

That included Biggs. 

Biggs now denies that – but when subpoenaed by the same January 6 Committee before which Ms. Hutchinson appeared, and given an opportunity to clear his name, Andy decided he’d rather polish up all his guns. 

Rep. Jordan also ducked and dodged a subpoena. Now, with Republicans in charge of the U.S. House of Representatives, he heads the House Judiciary Committee – and wants to subpoena all kinds of people. 

(Even a MAGA loyalist might see the irony here.) 

 

A plan to overturn voting results – hatched before the election. 

In any case, the indictment further notes that in Georgia, 

members of the enterprise stole data, including ballot images, voting equipment software, and personal voter information. The stolen data was then distributed to other members of the enterprise, including members in other states.

 

Members of the enterprise, including several of the Defendants, filed false documents, made false statements to government investigators, and committed perjury in judicial proceedings in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere[.] 

(Team Trumpers argue that many of these actions involve free speech.) 

(Perjury does not qualify as protected free speech.) 

 

In fact, the plan to steal the election was afoot even before votes were cast and counted. “[O]n or about October 31, 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP discussed [a] draft speech with unindicted coconspirator Individual l, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, that falsely declared victory and falsely claimed voter fraud.” 

(Using telepathic powers, Trump could see fraud before voters…cast…ballots!) 

 

On November 19, 2020: 

RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI, JENNA LYNN ELLIS, SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL, and unindicted coconspirator Individual 3, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, appeared at press conference at the Republican National Committee Headquarters [in Washington D.C.].

 

There they “made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia and elsewhere.” 

“On or about the 20th day of November 2020, DAVID JAMES SHAFER sent an e-mail to unindicted co-conspirator Individual 4, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, and other individuals.” Shafer explained that SCOTT GRAHAM HALL, a Georgia bail bondsman, “has been looking into the election on behalf of the President at the request of David Bossie” and asked the unindicted co-conspirator to exchange contact information with Hall and to “help him as needed.” 

(It’s not a crime to exchange contact information.) 

 

That same day, Trump and “MARK RANDALL MEADOWS met with Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate Michael Shirkey, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Lee Chatfield, and other Michigan legislators in the Oval Office at the White House[.]” The president “made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Michigan.” Giuliani “joined the meeting by telephone,” and supported Trump’s claims. 

(It is a crime to conspire to overturn results of a fair election.) 

 

The following day, Meadows sent a text message to Congressman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and inquired, “Can you send me the number for the speaker and the leader of PA Legislature. POTUS wants to chat with them.” 

(Legal, yes.) 

 

On or about November 22, Trump and Giuliani placed a call to Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Russell “Rusty” Bowers. During the telephone call, Giuliani made several false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Arizona. He then 

solicited, requested, and importuned Bowers to unlawfully appoint [a separate set of] presidential electors from Arizona. Bowers declined and later testified to the United States House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol that he told the president at that time, “I would not break my oath.” 

(Not legal, if proven.) 

 

Three days later Giuliani and “JENNA LYNN ELLIS appeared, spoke, and presented witnesses at [a] meeting of Pennsylvania legislators in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.” During that meeting, Rudy “made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania and solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania.” 

Ellis seconded Giuliani’s demands. 

The president joined the meeting by telephone, and added a few more false statements concerning fraud in Pennsylvania. Trump allegedly asked lawmakers to “unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania.”

Later that day Trump invited a group of Pennsylvania lawmakers and others to the White House. The president, White House Chief of Staff Meadows, Giuliani, and Ellis, as well as two unindicted co-conspirators, “whose identities are known to the Grand Jury,” met with the legislators and discussed holding a special session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. 

(The plan was to overturn the certification of the Pennsylvania electoral votes.) 

 

On November 26, Giuliani and Ellis called Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Bryan Cutler and left Cutler a voicemail message, “for the purpose of soliciting, requesting, and importuning him to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania.” 

(A Trump lawyer has argued this was free speech.) 

(Their requests were “aspirational,” not criminal.) 

 

That same day Giuliani placed a telephone call to President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate Jacob “Jake” Corman and pressed him “to unlawfully appoint [an alternative slate of ] presidential electors from Pennsylvania.” 

Rudy and Jenna continued to work the phones like felonious beavers. On November 27, they called Cutler once more. In a voicemail message they again asked him “to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania.” 

Then they called Corman again. Could he please appoint a false slate of electors for his state! Pretty please! 

Next, Trump called Corman – and made the same illegal request. It was a busy day for the conspirators. 

 

 

On November 27, Giuliani called Culter again, and left a voicemail once more. We are paraphrasing here, but the message was: “Hey Bryan, can you help a brother out, and break a couple of laws?” 

(I think we can assume prosecutors have listened to the voicemails.) 

 

Jesus! Rudy called Cutler again on November 28, and again requested that he break some more laws. 

On November 30, the plotters turned up in Arizona, and tried to advance the same illegal plan. Giuliani and Ellis met with state lawmakers in Phoenix. At least two other unindicted co-conspirators were present. During the meeting, Rudy “made false statements” concerning perceived fraud in the 2020 election in Arizona. 

(There are plenty of witnesses who can blow up the conspirators’ defenses.) 

 

Why couldn’t the Arizona legislators just appoint a false slate of electors pledged to vote in Trump’s name? 

Ellis thought that sounded like a swell idea. 

Trump “joined the meeting by telephone and made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3 election in Arizona.” 

(A recount was later conducted by a pro-Trump organization in Arizona.) 

(Biden gained votes.) 

 

“On or about the 30th day of November 2020, MICHAEL A. ROMAN instructed unindicted co-conspirator Individual 7” to coordinate with workers for the Trump Campaign to contact state legislators in Georgia and elsewhere “and to encourage them to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from their respective states.” 

At some point, during December 2020, Trump and Meadows, 

met with John McEntee and requested that McEntee prepare [a] memorandum outlining strategy for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, the day prescribed by law for counting votes cast by the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from Georgia and the other states. The strategy included having Vice President Michael R. “Mike” Pence count only half of the electoral votes from certain states and then return the remaining electoral votes to state legislatures.

 

This one’s almost funny. McEntee got his start on Team Trump serving as Trump’s body man, fetching Diet Cokes. He also played quarterback in college. 

So, yay, for that! 

(Not the kind of “legal scholar” you’d pick to craft an unconstitutional plan.) 

 

(McEntee had been fired previously by then-White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, after he failed a security check related to a gambling problem. Trump later fired Kelly, an honest man, and brought McEntee back.) 

(Like attracts like – those with no scruples attract those with no scruples.) 

 

In early December, Giuliani and Ellis met with Speaker Bowers, and Senate President Karen Fann, and other Arizona legislators. Unindicted co-conspirator Individual 5 was also present. Rudy (naturally), “made false statements concerning fraud” in the Arizona vote, and begged lawmakers to call a special session of the Arizona State Legislature. The goal: Convincing lawmakers to overturn the results of the state’s fair election. 

(Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, will repeatedly say Arizona’s election was clean.)

Ducey, in red tie, wanted Trump to win in 2020.
He wouldn't lie to say he did, however.
Rusty Bowers, bald, behind Trump, also wanted him to win.
He wouldn't lie either.

  

The next day, it was on to Michigan. Rudy and Jenna met with the Michigan House of Representatives Oversight Committee. This time they had actual witnesses to back them up. (Sort of.) Giuliani again made a series of unfounded claims about stolen votes in that state. Ellis supported his claim. They wanted lawmakers to appoint a new set of electors for the state. 

It was on to Georgia on December 3. This time, Giuliani and Ellis were backed by “JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN and RAY STALLINGS SMITH III.” During a meeting with Georgia state senators, prosecutors allege the conspirators “committed the felony offense” of asking the gathered state senators to violate their oaths of office. 

In the presence of “unindicted co-conspirator Individual 8,” they asked fourteen state senators: 

to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, O.C.G.A. 16 10- 1, by unlawfully appointing presidential electors from Georgia, in willful and intentional Violation of the terms of the oath of said persons as prescribed by law, with intent that said persons engage in said conduct. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. 

The “ask” again was clear: Could Georgia lawmakers do a losing candidate a favor – and just appoint a new slate of electors who would vote for the man who lost the popular vote in their state? 

(They’re asking lawmakers to commit election fraud.) 

 

False claims made that day included: 

First, at least 96,600 illegal mail-in ballots were counted in the presidential election in Georgia. 

Second, that Dominion Voting Systems equipment used in Antrim County, Michigan, mistakenly recorded 6,000 votes for Joseph R. Biden when the votes were actually cast for Donald John Trump. So it could have happened the same way in Georgia! 

(Two weeks later, a hand recount in Antrim County shows the vote was off by 12.) 

 

This, according to District Attorney Willis, “was an act of racketeering activity” and “an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.” 

Not to be outdone, Mr. Stallings decided to toss out a few lies of his own during the meeting: 

First: 2,506 felons voted illegally in Georgia. 

Second: 66,248 underage people illegally registered to vote before their eighteenth birthday, prior to the presidential election. 

Third: At least 2,423 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were not listed as registered to vote. 

Fourth: 1,043 people voted in Georgia who had illegally registered to vote using a post office box as a mailing address. 

Fifth: 10,315 or more dead people had voted in Georgia. 

Sixth: Fulton County election workers at State Farm Arena ordered poll watchers and members of the media to leave the tabulation area on the night of November 3, 2020, and continued to operate after ordering everyone to leave. 

Next, the president got in on the act, tweeting that same day, “Wow! Blockbuster testimony taking place right now in Georgia. Ballot stuffing by Dems when Republicans were forced to leave the large counting room. Plenty more coming, but this alone leads to an easy win of the State!” 

 

Jumping ahead: 

We know now, as of March 14, 2024, that multiple courts have torched these very lies. Giuliani and various right-wing news outlets have lost defamation cases for pushing the State Farm Arena lie. When Fox News kept claiming that Dominion Voting Machines were used to steal votes in places like Antrim County – and Georgia – Dominion sued. Fox couldn’t prove the claims its hosts were making and lost the case. Dominion settled for: $787.5 million – which is like a dollar for every lie you had to swallow to believe Trump won a landslide election in 2020. 

(He didn’t win at all.) 

 

Giuliani’s lies almost got two Georgia poll workers killed, and they sued for defamation, asking for somewhere between $15 million and $43 million. The jury hammered Rudy to the tune of $148.2 million. 

In fact, those who supported Trump’s lies in the right-wing news world, or in their own ways, have an impressive and growing record of courtroom defeats. To believe in Donald, you must remain blissfully unaware. 

 

Trump loves Gov. Kemp – wait! – Trump hates Gov. Kemp. 

Once again, we had Trump with the tweets: “People in Georgia got caught cold bringing in massive numbers of ballots and putting them in ‘voting’ machines. Greatjob @BrianKempGA!” 

(Trump will almost immediately turn on Gov. Kemp.) 

 

That same day, the president met with Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Bryan Cutler in the Oval Office and “discussed holding [a] special session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.” 

Sometime in December, Rudy placed a telephone call to President Pro Tempore of the Georgia Senate Cecil Terrell “Butch” Miller “for the purpose of making false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia.” 

Trump also called Miller – and I think we can assume he lied, too. A phone call can be harmless, of course. 

But this is likely a crime: 

On or about the 5th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP placed [a] telephone call to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and solicited, requested, and importuned Kemp to call [a] special session of the Georgia General Assembly. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. 

For whatever reason (and we will likely find out during the trial), Donald was not happy with what the governor told him. 

Soon after, the president tweeted: “Gee, what surprise. Has anyone informed the so-called (says he has no power to do anything!) Governor @BrianKempGA his puppet Lt. Governor @GeoffDuncanGA, that they could easily solve this mess, WIN. Signature verification call Special Session. So easy!” 

Hint to Trump fans: They weren’t going to call a special session because there was no proof the vote in the state was unfairly recorded. 

(Multiple elected GOP officials, in multiple states, have rebuffed the conspirators.) 

 

Next up to break the law, we have “SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL.” Without legal permission she worked out an agreement with a forensic data firm located in Fulton County, “for the performance of computer forensic collections and analytics on Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Michigan and elsewhere.” 

Powell and other conspirators unlawfully accessed election equipment in Coffee County, Georgia. 

 

“I assume you can make sure this happens.” 

On or about December 6, 2020, “ROBERT DAVID CHEELEY” allegedly joined the conspiracy, sending Dr. Eastman an email, and copies to “unindicted co-conspirator Individual 8,” and Georgia Senator Brandon Beach. 

I am working on setting up [a] call for you with the Speaker and the President Pro Tempore tomorrow. am also making the leadership aware of the importance for Trump electors to meet on December 14. Please provide the citation to the requirements of the duties which they must comply with. 

(There are laws that govern how electors are chosen; conspirators broke a bunch.)

Sidney has already admitted she broke the law.

  

Eastman responds, telling Cheeley, Beach, and “Individual 8,” that “the Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia needed to meet on December 14, 2020, sign six sets of certificates of vote, and mail them ‘to the President of the [U.S.] Senate and to other officials.’ This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.” 

Cheeley sends another email, to “unindicted co-conspirator Individual 2.” He wants Individual 2 to know that he has been speaking with Eastman. Cheeley explains that he has been working to “set up [a] call with Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives David Ralston and President Pro Tempore of the Georgia Senate Butch Miller to encourage them to call [a] special session of the Georgia General Assembly.” 

(Cheeley is working to get lawmakers to overturn the Georgia vote.) 

 

“Professor Eastman told me tonight,” Cheeley explains, “that it is critical that the 16 Electors for President Trump meet next Monday and vote in accordance with U.S.C. 7.” In the e-mail, he further states, “I assume you can make sure this happens.” 

Individual 2 responds, directing an email to Cheeley and “DAVID JAMES SHAFER.” “Bob,” he or she writes, “can [you] get on call with David Shafer, state GOP chair and later this morning to discuss. David has been on top of lot of efforts in the state.” 

(Individual 2 will be a witness at trial.) 

 

The Wisconsin recount is finished. 

On December 7, 2020, via email, Eastman and Giuliani discuss the need to get all fake electors to vote on December 14, the day on which states and the District of Columbia are required to certify their votes. Attached to an email is a memorandum written by Chesebro to James R. Troupis, an attorney associated with the Trump Campaign, “and advocates for the position that Trump presidential elector nominees in Wisconsin should meet and cast electoral votes for DONALD JOHN TRUMP on December 14, 2020.” This, despite the fact, prosecutors explain, “that DONALD JOHN TRUMP lost the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Wisconsin.” 

By this time – if any of the conspirators have calendars – they have to know a partial recount of votes in Wisconsin, for which Team Trump paid $3 million, is complete. On November 29, the results are announced. Election records in Dane and Milwaukee counties, the two most populous in the state, both Democratic bastions, have been examined for evidence of fraud. 

How many zillion bogus votes turned up? 

None. 

Joe Biden gained votes.

Joe won Georgia.

 

Growing more desperate with each passing day, the president asks Bill White, “an individual associated with the Trump Campaign then residing in Fulton County, Georgia” to get him contact information for top lawmakers in Georgia. 

(Legal.) 

 

Trump then allegedly commits, 

the felony offense of SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER, in Violation of O.C.G.A. §§ 16-4-7 16-10-1, in Fulton County, Georgia, by unlawfully soliciting, requesting, and importuning Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives David Ralston, public officer, to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, O.C.G.A. 1610-1, by calling special session of the Georgia General Assembly for the purpose of unlawfully appointing presidential electors from Georgia, in willful and intentional Violation of the terms of the oath of said person as prescribed by law, with intent that said person engage in said conduct.

 

(Definitely not legal, if proven.) 

 

A stupid plan in Texas. 

In faraway Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton hatches a stupid plan of his own. He will challenge the vote in Georgia and other states Trump lost, claiming there was fraud. And so, he will say, poor Texas voters who loved Trump more than roping steers, didn’t get the president they desired. 

Trump calls Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr “for the purpose of making false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia and elsewhere.” During that call, the president asks Carr not to discourage other state attorneys general from joining the Texas lawsuit “contesting the administration of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.” Carr refuses to be involved. 

(Probably something to do with the rule of law.) 

 

On December 8, 2020, Trump and Eastman call Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. They ask her to help in gathering individuals to meet and cast electoral votes for Trump on December 14, 2020, in multiple states. The next day, Chesebro sends Troupis, “detailed, state-specific instructions” for how Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin would meet and cast electoral votes – fake ones – for Donald. 

Chesebro is an emailing fool. On December 10, he contacts Georgia Republican Party Chairman Shafer and unindicted coconspirator Individual 9. Chesebro explains that certain individuals associated with the Trump Campaign have asked him “to help coordinate with the other contested States, to help with logistics of the electors in other States hopefully joining in casting their votes on Monday.” 

(The conspirators are worried that fake electors in some states might balk.) 

 

Another email goes out to Shafer and unindicted co-conspirators Individual 9, 10, and 11. Chesebro has documents to be used by Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia for the purpose of casting electoral votes for Trump, “despite the fact that DONALD JOHN TRUMP lost the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia.” 

(Three days earlier, the third count of the votes in Georgia was finished.) 

(Once, twice, thrice, counts show Biden won.) 

  

  

Chesebro is a busy conspirator on December 10, sending “an email with attached documents to Arizona Republican Party Executive Director Greg Safsten and others.” Once more, he lays out plans for Trump presidential elector nominees in that state to cast bogus electoral votes. For simplicity, let’s just say Chesebro emails the Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming with details for how fake electors can vote too. And, why not! Chesebro contacts Nevada Republican Party Vice Chair Jim DeGraffenreid. He explains that Giuliani and others have asked him “to reach out to you and the other Nevada electors to run point on the plan to have all Trump-Pence electors in all six contested States meet and transmit their votes to Congress on Monday, Dec. 14.” The only problem? Trump got thumped in the Nevada popular vote. 

Good god, Mr. Chesebro! Stop with the emails – you’re going to get a felony rap. 

(Of course, we now know he did.) 

Chesebro: Another Trump lawyer gets a felony.

 

Next, he sends a similar email, with similar instructions, to “Republican Party of Pennsylvania General Counsel Thomas W. King III.” 

Around that same time, Mr. Shafer “contacted unindicted co-conspirator Individual 2 … by telephone and discussed unindicted co-conspirator Individual 2’s attendance at the December 14, 2020, meeting of Trump presidential elector nominees in Fulton County, Georgia.” 

(We can assume that Individual 2 was worried about breaking the law.) 

 

Like trying to teach Spanish to donkeys. 

In simple terms, on “or about the 10th day of December 2020,” Giuliani and Smith III “committed the felony offense” of asking eleven “elected members of the Georgia House of Representatives,” to join them in the plot. All they needed was for lawmakers to “unlawfully” appoint “presidential electors from Georgia, in willful and intentional violation of the terms of the oath of said persons as prescribed by law, with intent that said persons engage in said conduct.” 

Defendants were asking those eleven to commit felonies – conspiring, in other words, to break the law. 

Rudy allegedly committed a second felony when he lied about purported voter fraud in Georgia, in hopes lawmakers would go along with the plot to overturn the Electoral College vote. Once again, he insisted, “That it is quite clear from the State Farm Arena Video from November 3, 2020, that Fulton County election workers were stealing votes and that Georgia officials were covering up crime in plain sight.” Rudy further claimed that “Democratic officials ‘got rid of all of the reporters, all the observers, anyone that couldn’t be trusted,’” and used the excuse of a watermain break to clear out the voting area. Then they “went about their dirty, crooked business.” 

Giuliani insisted that between 12,000 and 24,000 ballots were illegally counted by Fulton County election workers at State Farm Arena. 

In days to come, President Trump will, on multiple occasions, jack the figure of the “stolen votes” to 54,000. 

Math accuracy has never been his forte. 

Nor truth. 

Meanwhile, Rudy is telling lawmakers that in Michigan, there were 700,000 more ballots counted than were sent out to voters in the November election, which could only be explained by quadruple counting of ballots. 

He claims again that Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and an unidentified man were “quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine” at State Farm Arena to be used to “infiltrate the crooked Dominion voting machines.” 

He claims that 96,600 mail-in ballots were counted in Georgia, despite there being no record of those ballots having been returned to county elections offices. 

Sadly, for Team Trump, none of these complaints held up in court in 2020 – and haven’t since. 

Unfortunately, as we approach the 2024 election, trying to explain all of this to avid Trump fans is like trying to teach Spanish to donkeys. 

 

“The votes could be flipped to Trump.” 

On or about December 11, 2020, Mr. Shafer reserved Room 216 at the Georgia State Capitol so it could be used for the secret December 14 meeting of the fake electors. That same day, Mr. Chesebro pretty much gave away the game. In an email to Jim DeGraffenreid, in Nevada, he admitted that “the purpose of having the electoral votes sent in to Congress is to provide the opportunity to debate the election irregularities in Congress, and to keep alive the possibility that the votes could be flipped to Trump [emphasis added].” 

(That’s the point of the conspiracy right there.) 

 

Chesebro sends out documents to be used by fake electors in Arizona, a state where the governor has already said the vote (which went to Biden) was fair. 

The same kind of documents go to Nevada, and, of course, to Georgia – where the governor has also said the vote was legit. 

By now, several fake electors are experiencing jitters. On December 12, “DAVID JAMES SHAFER contacted unindicted co-conspirator Individual 12, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, and discussed unindicted co-conspirator Individual 12’s attendance at the December 14, 2020, meeting.” In several cases, in various states, the first “fakes” chosen back out, rather than break the law – and new “fakes” must be recruited. 

That same day, “MICHAEL A. ROMAN sent an e-mail to two unindicted co-conspirators, and “other individuals associated with the Trump Campaign.” What he needed, he said, was a “tracker for the electors.” According to prosecutors, he needed someone to create a “shared spreadsheet listing Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.” You would have, in essence, 16 fake electors in Georgia, 11 in Arizona, 16 in Michigan, etc. 

This was going to be a wide-ranging conspiracy to overturn election results, and there were going to be a lot of felonies commissioned by the Defendants and committed by others. So: You were going to need a goddam spreadsheet to keep track of all the crimes that had to be committed. 

(In exactly none of these states has significant voter fraud been proven.) 

 

Chesebro was in the thick of it all. On December 12, he met with Brian Schimming and discussed the December 14, 2020, meeting of Trump presidential elector nominees in Wisconsin. Giuliani joined the meeting by telephone and stated that the media should not be notified of the plan. 

Roman was also busy that day, lining up fake electors. 

 

“Refused to participate.” 

Shafer was notified on “the progress of organizing the December 14, 2020, meeting of Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia. 

The e-mail stated which elector nominees had confirmed they would attend the meeting, that other individuals had been secured in case some of the elector nominees refused to participate in the meeting, that Georgia legislators had been contacted to ensure access to the Georgia Capitol, and that DAVID JAMES SHAFER had reserved Room 216 for the meeting.

 

As the deadline approached emails flew in all directions. “Unindicted co-conspirator Individual 4” was busy, as were Chesebro, and Roman. Documents to be signed by fake electors – to give them a whiff of legitimacy – went out to Trump electors in New Mexico – almost a conspiracy afterthought. 

Chesebro sent an e-mail to Giuliani with the subject line: “PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL Brief notes on ‘President of the [U.S.] Senate’ strategy.” In it, he “outlined multiple strategies for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021.” 

Chesebro made clear that this effort to disrupt and delay the vote in Congress was “preferable to allowing the Electoral Count Act [ECA] to operate by its terms.” He knew that the provisions of the ECA would prohibit the plotters from continuing down the path they were treading. In an email to Roman, he as much as admitted that the whole plan was illegal, noting that Giuliani “wants to keep this quiet until after all the voting is done.” There was discussion about one of the “fakes” who had agreed to cast a vote for Trump but had now backed out. An email message confirmed that “unindicted co-conspirator Individual 13” would attend, instead, and would vote for Trump. 

On December 14, the President of the United States fired up his Twitter account, sending out the following message: “What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is. Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way. Demand this clown call Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW. Otherwise, could be bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th.” 

(Trump was predicting fraud in special elections to fill two U.S. Senate seats.) 

 

On that same day, Shafer notified one of Georgia’s fake electors to tell everyone to be careful. “Listen,” he warned. “Tell them to go straight to Room 216 to avoid drawing attention [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] to what we are doing.” So, the fake electors met secretly in Georgia, or tried, and voted for Donald J. Trump. 

As explained in Part XVIII, Journalist George Chidi spit in the plotter’s soup. He first realized something odd was afoot when a source who usually liked to talk buzzed past in the hall of the state capital that day, as if he had never seen Chidi in his life. Then the source disappeared into Room 216. Chidi had a hunch something was up, turned the knob himself, and stepped into the room. What he saw, and simultaneously live streamed from his phone, were six to 10 people who reacted with alarm to his presence. As the source, a young Republican activist named C.J. Pearson, bustled wordlessly out of the room, Mr. Chidi asked what was going on. 

“Education,” someone said. 

What, in fact, Chidi had stumbled upon was what had been meant to remain secret: a meeting of Georgia’s alternate slate of electors (fakes), who would pledge their votes (fake) to the Orange God of Mar-a-Lago (fake deity), in hopes of bamboozling the bozos who worship the OG more than they care about true votes. 

In any case, a document titled “CERTIFICATE OF THE VOTES OF THE 2020 ELECTORS FROM GEORGIA” was signed. 

As prosecutors explain: 

DAVID JAMES SHAFER, SHAWN MICAH TRESHER STILL, CATHLEEN ALSTON LATHAM, and unindicted coconspirators Individual 2, Individual 8, Individual 9, Individual 10, Individual 11, Individual 12, Individual 13, Individual 14, Individual 15, Individual 16, Individual 17, Individual 18, and Individual 19, whose identities are known to the Grand Jury, committed the felony offense of IMPERSONATING [a] PUBLIC OFFICER … [that is impersonating a duly sworn presidential elector] … with intent to mislead the President of the United States Senate, the Archivist of the United States, the Georgia Secretary of State, and the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia into believing that they actually were such officers by placing in the United States mail to said persons document titled “CERTIFICATE OF THE VOTES OF THE 2020 ELECTORS FROM GEORGIA.” 

(Those 13 unindicted persons are likely cooperating with prosecutors.) 

 

The same conspirators, as listed above, were charged with several felonies related to this fake vote. There was the felony offense of “FORGERY IN THE FIRST DEGREE,” and a felony for making false statements and writings, namely: “WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States…do hereby certify the following…” Then there was a felony for “filing false documents,” and another felony for Shafer and Still, for “forgery in the first degree,” and a felony for the same two for claiming that Shafer was “Chairman of the 2020 Georgia Electoral College Meeting” and Still was “Secretary of the 2020 Georgia Electoral College Meeting.” 

Let’s just say it took a lot of felonies – allegedly, we should remind readers – to flesh out the plot. 

Next, we had some classic witness intimidation. On December 14, “STEPHEN CLIFFGARD LEE” traveled, 

to the home of Ruby Freeman, Fulton County, Georgia, election worker, and speaking to her neighbor, with intent to knowingly engage in misleading conduct toward Ruby Freeman, by purporting to offer her help, and with intent to influence her testimony in an official proceeding in Fulton County, Georgia, concerning events at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia.

 

The next day, Mr. Lee was back. This time he came to  Freeman’s home, knocked on her door, “with intent to knowingly engage in misleading conduct” and again pretended to “offer her help.” 

Lee then enlisted “HARRISON WILLIAM PRESCOTT FLOYD, an individual associated with the organization Black Voices for Trump, to assist with his effort” to speak to Freeman. Lee explained to Floyd that Ruby Freeman was afraid to talk to him, “because he was a white man.” 

Could Floyd help him trick the witness? 

(By this time Freeman and her daughter had been buried by death threats.) 

 

Why not give Sidney Powell special counsel powers! 

On December 18, 2020, Trump met with Giuliani, Powell, and unindicted co-conspirator Individual 20. Discussion turned to “seizing voting equipment and appointing SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL as special counsel with broad authority to investigate allegations of voter fraud in Georgia and elsewhere.” Powell sent an email to the Chief Operations Officer of SullivanStrickler LLC and instructed him that “she and unindicted co-conspirators Individual 6, Individual 21, and Individual 22 should immediately receive a copy of all data obtained by SullivanStrickler LLC from Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Michigan. 

(We won’t know this until October 2023, but when Powell agrees to a plea deal in Georgia, former President Trump insists she was never his lawyer, and he wouldn’t recognize her if they met in the frozen foods aisle at the grocery store.) 

On December 22, White House Chief of Staff, 

MARK RANDALL MEADOWS traveled to the Cobb County Civic Center in Cobb County, Georgia, and attempted to observe the signature match audit being performed there by law enforcement officers from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State, despite the fact that the audit process was not open to the public.

 

With Trump supporters screaming about massive voter fraud, election officials in Georgia had decided to conduct a spot check of voter signatures to evaluate how the system had worked. Biden won 56% of 387,000 votes in Cobb County, so an audit sample of 15,000 absentee ballots would surely turn up, according to Trump fans and the president himself, 400,000 dead people who voted. 

Alas, only two (2) signature mismatches were found. 

Two.

Mark Meadows is cooperating in a federal case against Trump.

 

With Christmas approaching, President Trump placed a call to the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State Chief Investigator Frances Watson. Mr. Meadows had arranged the call. Trump insisted, yet again, that he won the presidential election in Georgia “by hundreds of thousands of votes.” He assured Watson that “when the right answer comes out you’ll be praised.” 

(Even the densest Trump fan can figure out what “right answer” he desired.) 

 

Meanwhile, Eastman and Chesebro were busy emailing each other for fun, and trying to craft a memorandum regarding the “Jan scenario.” If they could cause enough confusion with their multiple slates of fake electors, they might pressure VP Pence, “or [Sen. Chuck] Grassley,” to throw out Biden votes. It would be even better “for them just to act boldly and be challenged, since the challenge would likely lead to the Court denying review on nonjusticiable political question grounds.” 

With luck, in other words, and a little help from Justice Clarence Thomas and his meddlesome wife, the Court might declare the matter outside its jurisdiction. Then Team Trump allies in Congress could throw the election to the U.S. House of Representatives – as set forth under provisions of the Twelfth Amendment. 

If no individual has a majority of the electoral votes, as explained in that amendment, the House must determine the winner. In that case, each state has one vote. So, Wyoming’s one member of the House could scratch his or her head, and cast their one vote for – Trump. Then the 53 members of the House from California could discuss matters, and vote by majority, and then cast their one vote for Biden. 

You can see where this would be going – and Republicans, who dominate in states with less people than cows, would be able to steal a win. 

Yay, South Dakota! 

 

“Just say that the election was corrupt.” 

By now, it’s Christmas, 2020, and all the good little boys and girls have presents to unwrap. All Trump wants is a second term he hasn’t earned. Once again, he calls Rusty Bowers, Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, to ask him to appoint a new slate of presidential electors from that state. 

During the call, Bowers explains to Trump, “I voted for you, worked for you, campaigned for you, just won’t do anything illegal for you.” 

Meadows allegedly commits another felony on December 27, and Trump decides he needs to keep pace. This time he pressures Acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting United States Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make false statements, stating, “Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” 

By this time, the following individuals, and many others, have already informed Mr. Trump that the election was not corrupt: 

Former Attorney General Bill Barr

Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona

Bowers

Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia

Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan of Georgia

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger

Chris Krebs, head of U.S. cyber security

 

– and now –

 

Rosen and Donoghue.

 

(All of these men are Republicans or Trump appointees, or both.) 

 

The following day, “JEFFREY BOSSERT CLARK” joins in the conspiracy, committing a felony offense, by “knowingly and willfully” making false claims “that the United States Department of Justice had ‘identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.’” 

Clark scores a second felony charge, when he presses Rosen and Donoghue to sign and send a document making that same claim. 

Rosen refuses. 

Donoghue tells Clark (in essence) to kiss his ass. 

Trump continues to press for Georgia elected officials to join the plot. On December 30, 2020, he tweets: 

Hearings from Atlanta on the Georgia Election overturn now being broadcast. Check it out. @OANN @newsmax and many more. @BrianKempGA should resign from office. He is an obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia, BIG! Also won the other Swing States. 

(Not a syllable in that tweet has ever been shown to be true in any court.)

Jeffrey Clark:
"Who got indicted in Georgia? Me?"

  

That same day, Giuliani racked up a couple of additional charges, as he and other plotters continued to press Georgia lawmakers, “including unindicted co-conspirator Individual 8,” to violate their oaths of office and back the slate of fake electors Rudy and others had cobbled together. Once again, this time in front of the Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, Rudy repeated most of the same false claims he had made before in a meeting with members of the Georgia House of Representatives. For example – that Fulton County election workers fraudulently counted certain ballots as many as five times at State Farm Arena. 

As we have already noted, accuracy is not a strength of the Team Trump effort to overturn the election. There are supposedly 18,000 fake ballots that are counted. Trump will claim they were counted three times = 54,000 illegal Biden votes. 

Rudy now claims five times = 90,000 illegal Biden votes. 

Rudy will later claim the votes were counted eight times = to 100,000,000 illegal Biden votes. (Okay, that number is the blogger’s joke.) 

The real “Rudy Number” would be 144,000. 

Investigators from the F.B.I. and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had already looked into this matter and found there had been no illegal counting. A hand recount, and a second machine count had shown that no large voter discrepancies could be found in Fulton County. Or, frankly, Georgia. 

 

New felonies were committed in clusters and bunches. 

If you’re still following along, there are many more felonies to come. Ray Stallings Smith III gets charged with making false statements in front of the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee. First: That Georgia Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany stated that his office had sent letters to 8,000 people who voted illegally in the November 3, 2020, presidential election and told them not to vote in the January 5, 2021, runoff election. Second: That the Georgia Secretary of State admitted that they had only a “90% accuracy rate” in the presidential election and that “there’s still [a] 10% margin that’s not accurate.” 

Then Robert Cheeley earned a felony charge for claiming that poll watchers in Fulton County were told to go home late on Election Night, because there had been “a major watermain break.” It was then, he said, that Fulton County election workers at State Farm Arena “voted” the same ballots “over and over again.” 

(The break occurred at 6 a.m. that morning, not late at night.) 

 

Truth, of course, did not concern nor hamper Mr. Trump. He kept up the pressure, tweeting on  December 30 again. “We now have far more votes than needed to flip Georgia in the Presidential race. Massive VOTER FRAUD took place. Thank you to the Georgia Legislature for today’s revealing meeting!” 

(This was, in fact, a lie.) 

 

Ellis (for sure) and Eastman (allegedly) kept committing fresh felonies as the year drew to a close. Ellis floated a plan to have Vice President Pence refuse to open any electoral votes from six states, including Georgia, because those votes were in dispute. 

Legally, they weren’t. 

Eastman filed in court for emergency relief, claiming that voting in Georgia had been marred by fraud, and made a series of unfounded charges. “Earlier on the same day,” prosecutors noted, “JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN sent an email to attorneys associated with the Trump Campaign admitting his knowledge that at least some of the allegations in the verified complaint were not accurate.” 

(Who needs accuracy in court!) 

 

A New Year dawned, and new felonies were committed in clusters and bunches. Chesebro sent out a memo with a plan to disrupt the “joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021.” 

On January 2, 2021, “SCOTT GRAHAM HALL, Georgia bail bondsman,” called “JEFFREY BOSSERT CLARK” and for more than an hour they discussed the presidential election in Georgia. 

(We don’t know what they discussed but we’ll find out in court.) 

 

That same day, Mr. Clark again importuned Acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting United States Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to sign and send a document that falsely stated that the United States Department of Justice had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.” 

For a second time, Rosen and Donoghue passed on the chance to qualify for felonies of their own. 

With options for overthrowing the results of the election in Georgia and elsewhere dwindling, Trump and Meadows risked piling up fresh felonies. On January 2, 2020, they placed a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that call, the president repeated all kinds of claims of voter fraud – both in Georgia and other states – that had been disproven. Raffensperger, and two other Republican officials on the call shot down each claim in sequence. 

The president went so far as to claim that Ruby Freeman was a “professional vote scammer” and again insisted that she and others had run 18,000 fake Biden ballots through voting machines three times. 

He said 139% of the population of Detroit had voted in the 2020 election. 

He said 5,000 dead Georgians had shambled to the polls. 

He said more votes were recorded in Pennsylvania than there were voters. 

(Not a single claim Trump made has ever been verified by the courts.) 

 

The next day, the free press broke the story, having obtained a recording of the call. An angry president tweeted: “I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters’, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!” 

(Listen to the call. You can hear Raffensperger rebut every claim.) 

 

Witness intimidation as a last resort. 

The next piece of the conspiracy involved pressing Ms. Freeman, starting on January 3, to admit that she counted tens of thousands of votes illegally. Three co-conspirators, “STEPHEN CLIFFGARD LEE, HARRISON WILLIAM PRESCOTT FLOYD, and TREVIAN C. KUTTI placed multiple telephone calls and sent text messages to each other and to other individuals involved in the conspiracy.” At 7:48 p.m., Floyd unsuccessfully tried to call Freeman. He tried again a minute later. At 7:53, Floyd sent Freeman a text message. Multiple phone conversations among the conspirators took up the next two hours. 

On January 4, Kutti, “having been recruited” by Floyd, “traveled from Chicago, Illinois, to Atlanta, Georgia,” by train. Soon after, she visited Freeman’s home in Cobb County, Georgia, “and attempted to contact her but was unsuccessful.” Kutti spoke with Freeman’s neighbor and “falsely stated that she was [a] crisis manager attempting to ‘help’ Freeman before leaving Freeman’s home.” 

“On or about the 4th day of January 2021, TREVIAN C. KUTTI, while in Fulton County, Georgia, placed [a] telephone call to Ruby Freeman and stated that Freeman was in danger.” She “stated that she could ‘help’ Freeman and requested that Freeman meet with and speak to her that night at Cobb County Police Department precinct in Cobb County, Georgia.” That evening, at the police station, Kutti and Freeman spoke for about an hour. Floyd joined the discussion by phone. He told Freeman that “she needed protection and purported to offer her help.” All that was needed was for Freeman to admit that ballots had been illegally counted and she’d be clear of any legal problems. And the waves of death threats she and her daughter were receiving might abate. This is old-fashioned witness intimidation if you fail to catch the drift. 

Like annoying emails, asking you to donate to the Trump 2024 election campaign, the felonies kept coming. On January 4, 2021, Eastman called Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Rusty Bowers and again begged him to appoint a bogus slate of presidential electors from Arizona. 

“Bowers declined to comply with Eastman’s request and stated that he would not risk violating his oath of office.” 

 

Both options violated the Electoral Count Act. 

Later that day, conspirators Trump and Eastman met with Vice President Mike Pence, his Chief of Staff, Marc Short, and Counsel to the Vice President Greg Jacob. During the meeting, the conspirators insisted that Pence “could either reject electoral votes from certain states or delay the joint session of Congress on January 6.” This delay would, hopefully, allow “certain state legislatures to unlawfully appoint presidential electors in favor of DONALD JOHN TRUMP.” During the meeting, Eastman admitted both options violated the Electoral Count Act. 

The next day, Jenna Ellis floated a new plan to disrupt the vote. Pence “should begin alphabetically in order of the states, and coming first to Arizona, not open the purported certification, but simply stop the count at that juncture.” 

More conspirators. More alleged felonies. More BS. On January 5, Trump tweeted more s**t. A blogger can only do so much, and he’s wearing out his eyes reading the indictment, and his fingers typing up key points. 

You can read the indictment online, yourself; but if you love Trump, the blogger knows you won’t. 

  

Meanwhile, Eastman meets with Chief of Staff to the Vice President Marc Short and Counsel to the Vice President Greg Jacob “for the purpose of requesting that Vice President Mike Pence reject slates of presidential electors from Georgia and certain other states during the joint session of Congress” the next day. “This,” prosecutors repeat, “was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.” Short and Jacob, both Republicans in good standing, say “no.” 

With time running out, Trump calls Pence in for another meeting. The president tells Pence he has the power to decertify the 2020 election results, that Democrats cheated, and that Pence wanted to “play by Marquess of Queensberry rules.” 

When Pence stated that it was his duty to support and defend the Constitution and that only Congress had the power to decide to reject slates of presidential electors, Trump called Pence “naive,” implied that he lacked courage, and stated that Pence was doing “a great disservice.” 

(The Queensbury rules in boxing forbid one fighter from hitting the other in the nuts.) 

(There is only one Trump Rule: “Do what is best for Donald J. Trump.”) 

 

Later that day, Trump and Eastman tried again – placing a call to Vice President Pence and importuning him to break the law. 

 

“The Vice President and I are in total agreement.” 

Trump then tried a second call, all by himself. He asked Mr. Pence if he had received a copy of a letter from a group of Pennsylvania legislators urging Congress to return the state’s electoral college votes. “You gotta be tough tomorrow,” he insisted. In fact, Trump decided if he was going to keep making up s**t he might as well go big. That evening he issued a  statement through the Trump Campaign that falsely stated, 

The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act. Our Vice President has several options under the U.S. Constitution. He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation. 

(Mr. Pence had never once agreed to any of that.) 

 

Down in Georgia, various conspirators were planning to breach, without legal authority, the election equipment at the Coffee County Board of Elections Registration Office in Coffee County, Georgia. In that effort, “SCOTT GRAHAM HALL and CATHLEEN ALSTON LATHAM” racked up a few felonies. They were hoping to get proof that voting machines had been rigged.  

FUN FACT: Trump acolytes insist that the movie, 2000 Mules, proves massive voter fraud occurred. This is like watching Snow White, and believing that a magic kiss from a handsome prince can revive a beautiful girl.

  

On January 6, 2021, as we all remember, President Trump spoke at a rally at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. During his speech, he spewed a flood of false statements concerning fraud in the election, both in Georgia and elsewhere. Again, he solicited Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress, and encouraged those in attendance at the rally to march to the United States Capitol.

Giuliani also spoke at the rally – told a few lies to warm up the mob – and, according to prosecutors, added another felony or two to his list. 

Not to be outdone, in terms of committing felonies, Eastman spoke too – and lied – in an effort to advance the conspiracy by fair means or foul. 

 

“We will Win the Presidency.” 

In an effort to pressure Pence further, Trump soon tweeted, 

If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will Win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect even fraudulent numbers in process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back! 

(Valid electoral votes had been duly certified in all fifty states and D.C.) 

 

Then, another presidential tweet: “States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN.” 

Trump was a felony-committing machine! He called Pence again and urged him to disrupt the scheduled vote. When Pence refused, Trump warned that Pence would “go down as wimp” in the history books, and claimed that Pence was not protecting the United States. 

(Translation: He wasn’t protecting Donald J. Trump.) 

 

The riot on Capitol Hill soon erupted. Trump sat back and watched events unfold on television. Dozens of police officers were battered and plenty of rioters got chemicals sprayed in their faces. One attacker was shot and killed. Another was trampled to death by the mob. Trump didn’t care. 

Eastman had the nerve late that evening to email Counsel to the Vice President Greg Jacob. In his email he claimed that the Electoral Count Act had already been violated, because of the way the debate was conducted, leading up to the final vote. Would it not be possible for Mr. Pence “to consider one more relatively minor violation” of the law “and adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations, as well as to allow full forensic audit of the massive amount of illegal activity that has occurred here.” 

Eastman mentioned, incorrectly, that 75 million people had voted for Trump, a rounding error that infected all of Team Trump. 

(Seventy-four million would be correct.) 

 

In Georgia, the conspirators were still hard at work. On January 7, several of the Defendants, “SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL, CATHLEEN ALSTON LATHAM, SCOTT GRAHAM HALL, and MISTY HAMPTON” broke into  the Coffee County, Georgia election board office, and there “willfully and unlawfully” tampered with electronic ballot markers and tabulating machines, and gained access to a vast trove of voter records and data. 

(Here we should note that in the first hand recount, done by state election officials, Coffee County votes perfectly matched the machine count: Trump 10,578, and Biden 4,511.) 

(No fraud at all.) 

(The second recount did stall in Coffee County – over a discrepancy of 50 votes.) 

(All other Georgia counties, 158, managed to validate their returns.)

  

The problem here was simple enough. None of the conspirators were “officers charged by law with the care of ballots,” nor were they “persons entrusted by any such officer with the care of ballots for purpose required by law, to possess official ballots outside of the polling place in Coffee County, Georgia.” 

So add to the felony list. 

Time for Trump to save himself was running out. On January 9, 10, 11 and 13, 2021 

unindicted co-conspirator Individual 25, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, unlawfully accessed certain data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment at the Coffee County Board of Elections Registration Office in Coffee County, Georgia, by downloading said data from server maintained by SullivanStrickler LLC. This was an act of racketeering activity under O.C.G.A. l6-l43(5)(B) and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. 

(Individual 25 is going to spill some beans at trial.) 

 

Not to be outdone, on five different days in January, unindicted co-conspirator Individual 26, also “unlawfully accessed certain data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment at the Coffee County Board of Elections Registration Office.” 

Unindicted co-conspirator Individual 27 also decided to get in on the act, accessing data illegally, including once as late as February 26, 2021. 

Enough, already! There was also unindicted co-conspirator Individual 28, illegally accessing data.  

If one breech of the system wasn’t enough, “on about the 18th day of January 2021, MISTY HAMPTON allowed unindicted coconspirators Individual 25 and Individual 29 … to access non-public areas of the Coffee County Board of Elections Registration Office in Coffee County, Georgia.” Once more they managed to access Dominion Voting Systems equipment. “This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.” 

Trump’s time in office had now dwindled to 48 hours, and conspirators were clamoring for pardons. That included Giuliani, and Meadows, among others – a sign of “consciousness of guilt.” 

For reasons currently unknown, the felonies continued to pile up even after Trump got ejected from the Oval Office. On April 22, 2021, unindicted co-conspirator Individual 28, sent an email to the Chief Operations Officer of SullivanStrickler LLC and directed him to transmit all data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment at the Coffee County Board of Elections Registration Office “to unindicted co-conspirator Individual 30, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, an attorney associated with SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL and the Trump Campaign.” 

As late as September 17, 2021, former President Trump is accused of committing another felony, once again “importuning Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, public officer, to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense of  Violation of Oath by Public Officer,” by unlawfully “decertifying the Election, or Whatever the correct legal remedy is, and announce the true Winner.” 

Think how crazy that is! 

Donald was still claiming, ten months after he got booted from the White House, that he really won the race. “As stated to you previously,” he told Sec. Raffensperger, “the number of false and/or irregular votes is far greater than needed to change the Georgia election result.” 

Once the investigation was opened in Fulton County, conspirators began a second round of felony offenses. “DAVID JAMES SHAFER” allegedly committed perjury. Perjury sounded like fun – so, on or about May 7, 2022, “SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL made the following false statements and representations in a sworn deposition with the United States House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol.” She claimed she “didn’t have any role” in setting up efforts to access voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia, or Antrim County, Michigan. She said she was aware there was an “effort by some people” to get access to voting machines but that she did not “know what happened with that” and did not “remember whether that was Rudy or other folks.” 

(Haha, MAGA fans. It was Sidney herself!) 

 

(We now know that the lawyer responsible for breaching the Antrim County machines is facing a separate indictment.) 

 

Also, in September 2022, “CATHLEEN ALSTON LATHAM committed the felony offense of PERJURY,” when she claimed she had been present at the Coffee County Board of Elections Registration Office for “just [a] few minutes” on January 7, 2021, adding that she only “walked into the front part” of the Coffee County Board of Elections Registration Office and “didn’t go into the office.” Having warmed up with a few lies, she claimed she had “no idea” if employees of SullivanStrickler were present that day. 

And if Misty Hampton was present, Latham said she didn’t see her, or hear her, or even smell her perfume. 

(Prosecutors appear to have video tape of the conspirators in action.) 

 

On September 22, 2022, it was Cheeley’s chance to commit perjury – and he allegedly snatched it with gusto. He claimed he had no prior knowledge of the December 14, 2020, meeting of the fake electors. He denied having “substantive conversations with anyone” about the meeting “until after the meeting had already taken place.” He said he never “suggested to anyone” that the Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia should meet that day, and if he saw Professor Eastman in a police lineup, he couldn’t pick him out. 

Eastman in hat, Giuliani, right, speaking on January 6, 2021, prior to attack.

 

A Felony Festival in Georgia. 

At this point, the blogger’s eyes started to glaze over – but the alleged felonies piled higher and higher. It was a Felony Festival in Georgia. Rudy gets a few more. Trump gets a few more. There’s rampant lying – including under oath. Since several defendants falsely signed documents, claiming to be the real electors from the State of Georgia, the Grand Jury added a felony charge for five individuals for “the offense of FORGERY IN THE FIRST DEGREE.” 

For variety we might as well keep a tally of alleged felonies committed, and leave the matter for the courts to decide. 

The leader of the felonious crew is, of course, 

DONALD JOHN TRUMP – 13 FELONY COUNTS. 

His co-conspirators, in alphabetical order, face or faced a combined 122 felony charges, divvied up as follows: 

ROBERT DAVID CHEELEY – 10

KENNETH JOHN CHESEBRO – 7

(he pled to one)

 

JEFFREY BOSSERT CLARK – 2

JOHN CHARLES EASTMAN – 9

JENNA ELLIS – 2

(she pled to one)

 

HARRISON WILLIAM PRESCOTT FLOYD – 3

RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI – 13

SCOTT GRAHAM HALL – 7

(he pled to five misdemeanor counts)

 

MISTY HAMPTON – 7

TREVIAN C. KUTTI  - 3

CATHLEEN ALSTON LATHAM – 11

STEPHEN CLIFFGARD LEE – 5

MARK RANDALL MEADOWS – 2

SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL – 7

(she pled to six misdemeanor counts)

 

MICHAEL A. ROMAN – 7

DAVID JAMES SHAFER – 8

RAY STALLINGS SMITH III – 12

SHAWN MICAH TRESHER STILL – 7

 

Signed,

FANI T. WILLIS, District Attorney

 

 

“You either have it, or you don’t.” 

August 16, 2023: So, there the indictment stands. Now for a bit of reaction from leading Republicans, and men of honor. At a gathering for state lawmakers at the National Conference of State Legislatures, former Vice President Pence is clear. “The Georgia election was not stolen and I had no right to overturn the election on January 6,” he says. 

“Over a year ago, I said that Donald Trump’s actions disqualified him from ever serving as President again,” former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson said in a statement Monday. “Those words are more true today than ever before.” 

After Trump let loose another blast of falsehoods on “Truth Social,” insisting he had “irrefutable proof” that he was cheated out of a Georgia win, Gov. Brian Kemp had to wade into the controversy yet again. “The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen. For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward – under oath – and prove anything in a court of law,” he explained in a tweet. “Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor. The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus.” 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, like Kemp, easily reelected in 2022,  also made clear. Asked about this fourth indictment of Mr. Trump, Raffensperger explained, “The most basic principles of a strong democracy are accountability and respect for the Constitution and rule of law. You either have it, or you don’t.” 

Trump doesn’t. 

The former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan, also a Republican, is even more fiery in response. Asked during an interview on NPR to comment on the latest indictment, he replied, 

I think the more Americans can see and specifically Republicans ... [the] crazy series of events that played out, the more they can see it in three dimension, I think the quicker we’re going to start to heal as a party and move past Donald Trump. I just, I think history is going to prove that Donald Trump was one of the biggest mistakes this country’s ever made.

 

He thought a moment, then added, 

Donald Trump has confused Republicans across the country to think that the louder and more angry you are, the more conservative you are. ... I’m a Republican because I believe in the conservative principles of smaller government and public safety and national security. I believe in states’ rights. Those are the core tenets why a majority of Republicans got into the Republican Party. But Donald Trump’s confused us. And this is a painful healing process for us.

 

This is our opportunity. If we, as Republicans, don’t use this moment of insanity inside our party as a pivot point, then shame on us.

 

Former Congressman Will Hurd predicted Trump would use his latest legal problems to “manipulate Americans into paying his legal bills.” 

(He already has – to the tune of $50 million.) 

 

Governor Ron DeSantis, who really, really wanted to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024, so he could ban more books, also figured out the obvious. When pressed for an answer by an interviewer on the outcome of the 2020 election, he finally had to admit that Biden was the real president. 

“Of course, he lost,” he said of Trump. 

And let’s not forget former Attorney General Bill Barr – whose lack of courage saved Trump during the Mueller investigation. 

Working with Trump for as long as he did, Barr finally grasped a cruel truth. In an interview on Fox News he explained that in the aftermath of Trump’s loss in 2020, he could not approve of the way the president kept repeating “The Big Lie.” Yet even he was surprised how far Trump would go. 

“During this time, he was being told by lawyers in the White House if he kept doing this, he would spend the rest of his life tangling with the criminal justice process. That’s exactly what has happened. He shouldn’t be surprised and no one else should be surprised,” Barr told Brett Baier. 

(And so, here we are.)

  

A “fatter Tony Soprano.” 

It took time for this story to leak, but this is typical of the kind of people who gravitate toward the former president. Current Trump lawyer (and alleged co-conspirator, as we now know, in his boss’s fourth indictment, down in Georgia), Boris Epshteyn, has been outed for a crime committed in 2021. 

According to police reports, Epshteyn was accused of groping two sisters at a Scottsdale, Arizona nightclub. The most serious charges were dropped, but the Team Trump player pled guilty to disorderly conduct, paid a fine, and served probation. At the time of the incident, one of the sisters said security guards told her they couldn’t kick Boris out, because he was a “big spender” at the club, although they did escort him out after the girls continued to complain. 

Asked by police to describe the perpetrator at the time of his arrest, the older sister said he was “ugly” and wearing a “white Ralph Lauren polo.” She added that Epshteyn looked like a “fatter Tony Soprano.” 

Additional digging by practitioners of the free press uncovered another nugget from Mr. Epshteyn’s past. He was also arrested in 2014, after a fight at a Scottsdale club, and charged with “assault-touching” of other women, but worked out a plea deal and later had his conviction set aside. 

(Team Trump is led by the Pussy Grabber, and pussy grabbers gravitate his way.) 

Boris - pussy grabber in training?

 

*** 

NOTE ON METHODOLOGY: In every post, we place names in bold, of individuals, or sets of individuals who know Trump can’t be trusted. 

None of these people are Democrats. 

To trust the former president – as millions of misinformed Americans still do – you have to convince yourself all these people hate American and want to destroy the country. And you have to believe with all your heart that Donald Trump, who doesn’t care about the truth, is being straight with you. 

In this post, all of the following individuals and sets of individuals know Trump is not straight with the law: 

1 grand jury (the vote to indict was 23-0)

3 states, holding recounts

5 state governors

1 state attorney general

1 lieutenant governor

various “fake” electors (who lose their nerve)

3 sets of state lawmakers

3 state Speakers of the House

2 state Senate President Pro Tempores

2 U.S. Attorney Generals

1 Deputy U.S. Attorney General

1 White House aide

The Michigan House Oversight Committee

Rep. Mo Brooks

Marc Short, Chief of Staff for Vice President Pence

Greg Jacob, Counsel to VP Pence

The F.B.I. 

– and –  

Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Chief Investigator Francis Watson.