The immediate former president of the U.S. is facing several investigations and possible criminal charges. But in Georgia, prosecutors revealed Tuesday that the expert prosecutors involved in the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump's conversations with officials he tried to get to change the election results in the state.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow cited several cases in Georgia in which the RICO statutes were used to convict and jail multiple offenders. RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.
Over the weekend, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis revealed that she would be looking at whether the RICO laws would apply to Trump in this case. She then brought in Atlanta lawyer John Floyd, who not only wrote a book on RICO cases, but has prosecuted the top ones in Georgia for the past two decades.
"Floyd's appointment signals that racketeering could feature prominently in the investigation," said Reuters. "It's an area of law where Willis has extensive experience — including a high-profile Atlanta case where she won racketeering convictions of 11 public educators for a scheme to cheat on standardized tests."
"And Fani Willis has announced a criminal investigation into efforts by former President Trump and others to corrupt the results of the presidential election in Georgia," said Maddow. "She said when she announced the opening of that investigation, that racketeering was one of the crimes she was potentially investigating in question, efforts to corrupt the election results."
"It's not a stretch to see where she's taking this," Reuters cited Cathy Cox, dean of Mercer University's law school. "If Donald Trump engaged in two or more acts that involve false statements — that were made knowingly and willfully in an attempt to falsify material fact, like the election results — then you can piece together a violation of the racketeering act."
She explained that there are not a lot of people who avoid prison time on racketeering offenses and a charge can carry a 20-year sentence.
You can watch the video below via YouTube:
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