Local prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are actively investigating whether they can apply “false statement” charges against Rudy Giuliani and other members of Donald Trump’s team for their false attempts to interfere with state election results. in 2020, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer a former mayor of New York City, he twice presented Georgia state lawmakers with false evidence and savage accusations of a conspiracy theory for committing widespread election fraud. Besides, in two recorded phone calls to state election officials, then-President Trump made specific false statements about the fact that votes for him would be rejected and that the ballot boxes full of votes for Joe Biden would be moved.
In a letter dated February 10 addressed to state officials, first published by The New York Times, Fani Willis, Fulton County District Attorney, noted that his investigation includes, among other crimes, possible violations of Georgia laws that prohibit “making false statements to state and local government agencies.”
But so far, no focus has been focused on the legal team’s efforts to explore this specific criminal charge. Instead, the news has dealt with the possible use of election fraud by the district attorney or accusations against Trump’s inner circle. The latter would require prosecutors to demonstrate a pattern of corruption, similar to the way law enforcement considers mafia bosses to lead subordinates. The idea here would be to show that Trump and his lieutenants conspired in a “criminal enterprise” to undermine a legitimate election.
Several former Georgia District attorneys told The Daily Beast that investigators are likely to rely on a state law that makes the crime “consciously and intentionally” making a false statement about “any matter of jurisdiction” of the state government. The criminal charge carries a sentence of one to five years in prison.
Applying this state law to the former president’s lawyer would be a more than uncommon strategy, prosecutors say. But, again, it was also Trump’s conduct after the election.
Fulton DA’s public integrity team is said to be limited to the savage claims Giuliani made to Georgia’s state lawmakers, an integral part of Trump’s multifaceted attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results by pressuring lawmakers and posing judicial challenges. It is also being reviewed: Trump’s numerous misstatements in his direct phone calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (first reported by The Washington Post) and his six-minute phone chat with an election researcher (whose audio was made public by The Wall Street Journal).
On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reached out to attorney Cleta Mitchell, a member of Trump’s legal team who played a key role in the phone call with Raffensperger.
“I have nothing to say about it. I’m going to deal with it at the right time, “said Mitchell. Georgia researchers should contact her and everyone else on this call.
Trump’s advisers made no comment on this story and neither did Giuliani; New York Mayor’s attorney Joseph Sibley declined to comment Tuesday night. However, one person familiar with the matter said the former president’s legal strategy to counter any allegations of misrepresentation would likely involve a defense of free speech, although those discussions are preliminary at this time.
This effort by a Georgia prosecutor is one of several government cases Trump is now facing. New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. are investigating the Trump Organization for possible insurance and bank fraud related to lucrative real estate properties across the country. Trump also faces several individual lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct.
In recent weeks, Trump has remained, for the most part, publicly a mother on this criminal investigation. Shortly after the investigation began, his senior adviser Jason Miller alleged that “this is simply the last attempt by Democrats to add political points by continuing their witch-hunt against President Trump, and everyone sees it. “.
Giuliani, acting on Trump’s behalf, appeared before the Georgia State Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on December 3, 2020 and exposed the false details of his election conspiracy claim.
Among his worst blatant lies: that the state counted 96,600 “ghost votes.” This is the same claim that fueled Sidney Powell’s attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results with her so-called “Kraken” lawsuit, which was quickly dismissed by a federal judge.
Giuliani also paraded several widely discredited witnesses, including a little-known cybersecurity consultant (and Republican candidate for Congress) who erroneously claimed that nationwide voting machines in 2020 were technologically flawed. Russ Ramsland’s claims were refuted by top election security experts who made it clear that his Texas company, Allied Security Operations Group, completely misunderstood the technology of voting machines.
In addition, Giuliani played an edited video clip of surveillance from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, which he claimed showed irregularities in the counting of votes. This video was later analyzed by state election officials, who went frame by frame with reporters to prove there were no “mysterious ballot boxes.”
Giuliani repeated the effort a week later, on Dec. 10, when he presented his case to the State House Government Affairs Committee.
Former Georgia prosecutors told The Daily Beast that any use of false statement charges would be a new and difficult undertaking.
“I think it will clearly be an upward climb,” said Kenneth W. Mauldin, who retired last year after 20 years as a district attorney in the area that covers the city of Athens.
If Fulton prosecutors prosecute allegations of false statements, Mauldin said, they will have to deal with jurors who mistakenly believe these election conspiracies and would not believe such statements to be actually fake. He said defense attorneys could also try to bring in conservative Georgia lawmakers who don’t believe they were lied to.
Accusing someone of false statements for lying to lawmakers would also be unheard of, said Alan Cook, a former district attorney who was director of the University of Georgia’s law school’s tax justice program for nearly two decades.
“It would be very unusual to use false statement statutes in a circumstance like this,” he said. “In 13 years as a prosecutor, I probably only used the statute half a dozen times. It is usually used when state or local investigators investigate a crime and interview a witness who deliberately and knowingly gives false information that misleads investigators.
As in: pointing the cops in the wrong direction when looking for a fugitive.
However, Titus T. Nichols, Augusta’s former violent crime prosecutor, said hitting Trump’s conspiracy theory team in Georgia with allegations of false statements is in keeping with the spirit of the law.
“This is precisely to prevent people from doing this stupid thing: it wastes government time,” said Nichols, who now teaches as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Georgia. “When you start delving into ridiculous theories, you cross that line from ‘I am giving my opinion, ‘a’I will provide false information on purpose“.”
Nichols explained that Giuliani’s decision to present an edited video as false evidence of a false crime exceeded that threshold.
“He knows he’s lying when he says that. There are no secret ballots. This is him presenting false information. And being a lawyer, it’s even clearer that he’s lying. As a lawyer, you can’t invent ridiculous theories, ”he said.
Nichols said Giuliani will have a higher level because he is a lawyer, although his professional status is threatened, as New York is now considering disqualifying the man who was a U.S. lawyer in Manhattan.
As difficult as it may be to keep accusations of false statements in Georgia, this approach has proven to be a reliable tool against Trump’s allies at the federal level. Former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements in connection with the FBI’s investigation into Russian electoral interference. London lawyer Alex Van der Zwaan paid the price for lying to federal agents about communicating with Trump campaign vice president Rick Gates. And Trump’s only confidant, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to making false statements to a federally insured bank.
There is no evidence that Giuliani committed what would be a completely different crime: perjury. Prosecutors could prosecute someone who lies while testifying under oath, just as he is forced to testify in state courts. But this is not the case here. In Georgia, people who testify before state committees in the Senate and the House are not sworn in, both House staff told The Daily Beast.
Former prosecutors said it would be much harder for investigators to beat up accusations of false statements against Trump, because their long-standing differences did not formally present themselves before a government body and were mostly made up of misconceptions that in fact won. the elections.
“It’s almost like someone is selling you a car. They will say it’s a great car, “said Cook.
Instead, in her letters to officials, the Fulton County District Attorney has indicated that Trump and his team could face even more serious charges: requesting election fraud, conspiracy and cheating. As part of that effort, Willis has even hired the lawyer who literally wrote the book on RICO state charges, John E. Floyd.
And the core of this investigation is Trump’s appeal to the state’s top election official in his Jan. 2 call.
“So look,” Trump told Raffensperger. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have ”.
Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by 11,779 votes. The former president’s comment could be clearly understood to mean that he asked an official in the state of Georgia to change the results of an election, which is specifically specified as a first-degree felony. The latest election-related crime in the Georgia State Code makes it illegal to solicit someone to commit fraud. The punishment is up to three years in prison.
Again, this type of behavior also violates federal law, as former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder quickly put it when the call was made public. These are five years.