Fulton County District Attorney is preparing to present a case to a grand jury, probably tomorrow (Monday) with the expectation that indictments will be released as early as Tuesday. I find myself anticipating this fourth round of Trump indictments more than I have any of the others. I paused to ask myself why that is.
I think it is because expectations are that these indictments will finally be more than just about Trump. The attempted coup by Trump involved a large cast of bad actors, almost all of whom have been able to avoid criminal accountability, so far. I was very disappointed when Smith’s most recent indictment described six of those bad actors as coconspirators but didn’t actually charge any of them, at least yet. We might want to review who those six coconspirators are:
- CC1-Rudy Giuliani
- CC2-John Eastman
- CC3-Sidney Powell
- CC4-Jeffrey Clark
- CC5-Kenneth Chesebro
- CC6-Boris Epshteyn.
Notably all six on that list are lawyers. As Michael Cohen learned to his detriment, Trump likes to shield himself with lawyers when he commits crimes.
Potential Team Trump Indictees
It appears some of those six will be charged by Fani Willis this coming week, along with others. Her indictments, potentially under the Georgia RICO Act, are expected to include over a dozen people, only one of which will be Trump. It is important to remember that she will likely not be able to reach all the bad actors because she can only charge those that committed crimes in, and against, the state of Georgia.
In the above list, at least the first three (Giuliani, Eastman and Powell) are reported to have been involved in potential crimes (as discussed below) that Willis might charge. That’s a good start. The other three are less certain, though Epshteyn is described in Smith’s indictment as identifying attorneys in Georgia (and other states) who could assist with the fake electors scam.
The Campaign of Intimidating Phone Calls To State Officials
In addition to the fake electors scam, there is the phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that was the trigger for Willis’s investigation. That call directly implicates Trump because Trump threatened criminal prosecution of Raffensperger if the Secretary of State did not “find” the exact number of votes needed for Trump to win the state.
Less discussed is that a host of others were on the call with Trump. They include his Chief his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, his trade advisor Peter Navarro (already federally indicted for Contempt of Congress), the already mentioned names of Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and several other attorneys. While I doubt the call will broadly sweep all these people in, it may be part of any charges against Giuliani and Eastman.
Also less discussed is that this was not the only call. Trump made what is thought to be a similar call to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. Trump’s campaign of insults and intimidation against Kemp included tweets demanding that he resign.
Trump calls to various Georgia state legislators were also part of the investigation.
Finally, there is the call from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to Raffensperger that Raffensperger described as threatening and intended to convince him to throw out legal mail in ballots. Graham disagrees with that characterization. It’s known Willis investigated this call. She subpoenaed Graham, who after unsuccessfully vigorously contesting the subpoena did testify. Overall, I think it unlikely Graham will be indicted, but the possibility cannot be completely ruled out.
The Coffee County Election Machines Breach
Other potential indictees include those involved in a January 7, 2021 breach of voting machines in Coffee County Georgia. Those responsible for that particular bit of felonious insanity did so notwithstanding that Trump won 70% of the vote in that county. Recent reporting suggests members of Trump’s team including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and an attorney working with them named Katherine Friess, were (to various degrees) involved in that plot, as was former New York Police Commissioner (and already convicted fraudster and bribe taker) Bernie Kerik.
Beyond that there is a group of local officials in Coffee County who are at risk for indictment. They include Misty Hampton, the top election official in the county, who delayed certification of the county results, posted a video claiming the Dominion machines facilitated fraud, and authored a letter to the Trump lawyers inviting the breach. Another is Cathy Latham, who in addition to being one of the fake electors, is on video escorting the two men into the building who accessed the machines.
Those two men are also potential indictees. They are Scott Hall and Paul Maggio. Maggio is an I/T specialist who appeared to be working for Sidney Powell when he did this. Hall is a bail bondsman and appears to have helped coordinate the scheme.
The Attempt To Intimidate Election Officials
Another series of actions leading to potential indictments are the efforts to intimidate election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss. They have sued Rudy Giuliani for his role and there’s a good chance Willis will add that log onto what could be legal bonfire of charges she bring’s against him.
However, as I detailed in a prior article, there are others. Most notable is Trevian Kutti, a publicist for Kanye West. On January 4, 2021 Ms. Kutti knocked on Ruby Freeman’s door claiming she had friends in high places who could protect Freeman if Freeman just admitted to her role in election fraud. A distrusting Freeman called the police and the conversation moved to the police station, where much of the chilling discussion was caught on police bodycam. The taped threats included:
“We would like to let you to know, first and foremost, we have put in placement a way to move you, to secure you, from what may be authorized over the next 48 hours. We have probably 48 hours to move you . . . I cannot say specifically what will take place. I just know that it will disrupt your freedom and the freedom of one of more of your family members . . . You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up.”
In fact, 48 hours later, on the advice of the FBI, Ruby Freeman and her family had to flee their house as later in the day a threatening mob surrounded it.
The strangest part of this story is the mystery of who put Kutti up to this, as it seems unlikely she just did this out of the blue. In addition, she had coconspirators, people she put on the phone with Freeman as part of this attempt to compel a false confession. There could be some names not yet known who could face charges related to this.
The Georgia Fake Electors
16 Georgia Republicans signed the fake elector certificates that were a major thrust of this investigation. That some will be charged seems almost guaranteed. One of the few witnesses being called this coming week to the indicting grand jury is local journalist George Chidi, who blundered (un-welcomed) into the meeting where the fraudulent electors were signing the forged certificates.
The 16 include some big names in Georgia Republican politics. The big names include Bert Jones, who is merely the current Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. Another is David Shafer, until recently was the Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. However, as explained below, they are both likely to escape charging.
I originally believed all 16 fake electors would be indicted. However, over the last few months, about half of them have apparently cooperated under a grant of immunity. Shafer appears to be one of those. Bert Jones likely dodged potential prosecution with a court ruling finding that statements by Willis against his campaign created a conflict of interest compelling her (an her office’s) recusal from prosecuting him. However, Chidi’s call to testify suggests some fake electors will likely be indicted who have not cooperated. Willis seems most interested in Cathy Latham for whom Willis has the additional charge of granting access to voting machines discussed above.
So Who Gets Indicted?
Tough question, and I very much doubt every call I make here is right, but I’ll take a stab at it. This is more a list of names to keep in mind, than a prediction. It’s also possible that some names on this list will not be indicted because they have also cooperated under immunity agreements we don’t know about.
- Donald Trump, as head of the criminal enterprise and for the calls to Raffensperger, Kemp and others.
- Rudy Giuliani, as Trump’s right hand man in the entire operation to steal Georgia’s electoral college votes. He was potentially involved in everything. The fake electors scam, the phone calls, the voting machine break in, and the efforts to intimidate election officials.
- Sidney Powell, for her involvement in the fake electors scam and the illegal accessing of voting machines.
- Katherine Friess, an attorney working with Giuliani and Powell who was involved in the fake electors operation. While less likely than some others to be indicted, I’ll throw her name out there to keep in mind.
- Bernie Kerik, similar to Friess.
- John Eastman, involved with fake electors and on the call with Raffensperger.
- Misty Hampton, Coffee County election official who helped organize the breach of election machines.
- Cathy Latham, escorted people into the office with the election machines and signed her name as a fake elector.
- Paul Maggio, I/T specialist working for Sidney Powell who illegally accessed the election machines in Coffee County.
- Scott Hall, who accompanied Maggio and helped set up the operation to access the election machines.
- Trevian Kutti, the Kanye West publicist who threatened Ruby Freeman and her family. This incident could be the subject of additional, as yet unheard names, that were involved with her.
- Maybe a half dozen or so fake electors, including Latham above. Could be fewer as more may have cooperated than is currently known.
We have heard that there will be more than a dozen indicted. The list above, counting five fake electors other than Latham, comes to 16. There are other names not included that are possible. These include, but are certainly not limited to, Mark Meadows, Peter Navarro, Boris Epshteyn and Lindsey Graham.
In addition, the Special Grand Jury intriguingly suggested some witnesses perjured themselves in their testimony. We have no idea who that might be, whether they are already on the list, or whether Willis decided to prosecute anyone for that.
The special grand jury foreperson, in a somewhat inappropriate media blitz, predicted that when the indictments came down it would be “epic.” I think it will be.
