The Daily Beast
Georgia prosecutors note accusations of ‘false declaration’ to Rudy Giuliani and the Trump team
John Bazemore / APLocal prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are actively researching whether they can apply “false statement” charges against Rudy Giuliani and other members of Donald Trump’s team for their fraught attempts to interfere with the 2020 state election results , according to a person familiar with the matter. Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer and former New York City mayor, has twice presented Georgia lawmakers with false evidence and wild claims of a conspiracy theory to commit widespread electoral fraud. Separately, on two recorded calls to state election officials, then President Trump made specific false claims that votes for him were dropped and suitcases full of votes for Joe Biden were carried. In a February 10 letter to state officials that was first made public by The New York Times, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis noted that her investigation includes – among other crimes – possible violations of Georgia laws that prohibit “making false statements to state and local government agencies”. there was no focus on the legal team’s efforts to exploit this specific criminal charge. Instead, the news addressed the prosecutor’s potential use of electoral fraud or extortion charges against Trump’s inner circle. The latter would require prosecutors to prove a pattern of corruption – similar to the way the police discover that mafia bosses run their subordinates. The idea here would be to prove that Trump and his lieutenants conspired in a “criminal company” to undermine a legitimate election. Several former Georgia district prosecutors told The Daily Beast that investigators are likely relying on a state law that considers it a crime “knowingly and intentionally” to make a false statement about “any matter within the jurisdiction” of the state government. punishment of one to five years in prison. Applying this state law to the ex-president’s attorney would be an unusual strategy, ex-prosecutors say. Fulton DA is focusing on the absurd allegations that Giuliani made to Georgia’s state legislators – an integral part of Trump’s multifaceted attempt to reverse the 2020 election results by putting pressure on lawmakers and challenging the courts. Trump on his direct calls to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (reported for the first time by The Washington Post) and his six-minute phone conversation with an election investigator (whose audio was released by The Wall Street Journal). On Tuesday, the Daily Beast reached out to lawyer 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 this. I will deal with it at the appropriate time, ”said Mitchell. She and all the other participants in that call are expected to be approached by Georgia researchers. Trump’s consultants did not provide comments on this story, nor did Giuliani; New York City’s former attorney Joseph Sibley declined to comment Tuesday night. However, a person familiar with the matter said that the former president’s legal strategy to contain any allegations of misrepresentation would likely involve defending freedom of expression, although such discussions are preliminary at the moment. This effort by a Georgia prosecutor is one of several government cases that Trump is now facing. New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. are investigating the Trump Organization on potential insurance and bank fraud involving lucrative real estate properties across the country. Trump is also against several individual lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. In recent weeks, Trump has remained, for the most part, publicly mute about this criminal investigation. Shortly after the investigation began, his senior adviser Jason Miller claimed that “this is simply the Democrats’ last attempt to score political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump, and everyone sees it through.” Giuliani, acting on behalf of Trump, went to the Georgia State Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on December 3, 2020 and exposed the false details of his allegation of electoral conspiracy. Among its worst blatant lies: that the state counted 96,600 “ghost votes”. That’s the same crazy statement that fueled Sidney Powell’s attempt to overturn Georgia’s election results with his lawsuit called “Kraken”, which was promptly dismissed by a federal judge. Giuliani also paraded several widely discredited witnesses, including a little-known cybersecurity consultant (and Republican candidate for Congress) who wrongly claimed that voting machines across the country in 2020 were technologically defective. Russ Ramsland’s claims were debunked by leading electoral security experts who made it clear that his Texas company, Allied Security Operations Group, misinterpreted the technology inside the ballot boxes. In addition, Giuliani reproduced an edited clip from a surveillance video at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, which he claimed proved irregularities in the vote count. This video was later analyzed by state election officials, who went frame by frame with journalists to prove that there were no “mysterious ballot boxes”. Giuliani repeated the effort a week later, on December 10, when he presented his case to the State Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee. Former Georgia prosecutors told The Daily Beast that any use of accusations of misrepresentation would be a new – and difficult – task. “I think it will clearly be a difficult 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’s prosecutors pursue charges of misrepresentation, Mauldin said, they will face jurors who mistakenly believe in these electoral conspiracies – and would not think so statements are really false. He said defense lawyers could also try to bring in conservative Georgia lawmakers who don’t believe they lied. Accusing someone with false statements for lying to lawmakers would also be unheard of, said Alan Cook, a former prosecutor who served as director of the criminal justice program at the University of Georgia’s law school for nearly two decades. “It would be highly unusual to use the misrepresentation statutes in a circumstance like this,” he said. “In 13 years as a prosecutor, I probably only used the status half a dozen times. It is usually used when state or local investigators are investigating a crime and interviewing a witness who, intentionally and intentionally, gives false information that misleads investigators. ”As in: pointing police officers in the wrong direction when looking for a fugitive. Titus T. Nichols, a former violent crime prosecutor in Augusta, said that attacking Trump’s conspiracy theory vomit team in Georgia on charges of misrepresentation is in keeping with the spirit of the law. “This is precisely to stop people from doing this stupid thing – it’s a waste of government time,” said Nichols, who now teaches as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Georgia. “When you start to delve into ridiculous theories, you cross the line from ‘I’m giving my opinion’ to ‘I’m giving false information on purpose’.” Giuliani’s decision to present an edited video as false evidence of a false crime crosses that threshold, explained Nichols. “He knows he’s lying when he says that. There are no secret ballots. It is him presenting false information. And as he is a lawyer, it becomes even more clear that he is lying. As a lawyer, you can’t just come up with ridiculous theories, ”he said. Nichols said Giuliani will have a higher standard because he is a lawyer – although his professional status is under threat, as New York is now considering the suspension of the man who was once a US attorney in Manhattan. As difficult as it is to get accusations of false statements to persist in Georgia, this approach has proven to be a reliable tool against Trump’s allies at the federal level. Former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements in connection with the FBI investigation into the interference in the Russian elections. London lawyer Alex Van der Zwaan paid the price for lying to federal agents about communicating with Trump campaign vice president Rick Gates. And former Trump confidant Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements to a bank insured by the federal government. There is no indication that Giuliani committed what would be an entirely different crime: perjury. Prosecutors can prosecute someone who lies while testifying under oath, as witnesses are forced to do in a state court. But that is not the case here. In Georgia, people who testify before state Senate and House committees are not put under oath, officials from both chambers told the Daily Beast. Former prosecutors said it would be much more difficult for investigators to launch false statement charges against Trump, because his lengthy ramblings were not formally lodged before a government body and mostly comprised of mistaken opinions that he, in fact, won the election. “It’s almost like when someone is selling you a car. They’re going to say it’s a great car, ”said Cook. Instead, in her letters to officials, the Fulton County prosecutor indicated that Trump and his team could face even more serious charges: soliciting electoral fraud, conspiracy and extortion. As part of that effort, Willis even hired the attorney who literally wrote the book on state RICO charges, John E. Floyd. And at the heart of that investigation is Trump’s appeal to the state’s top voter in his January 2 call. “So, look,” Trump said to Raffensperger. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than us. ”Biden beat Trump in Georgia by 11,779 votes. The ex-president’s comment can be clearly understood to mean that he asked a Georgia state official to alter the results of an election – which is specifically listed as a first-degree crime. The latest election-related offense listed in the Georgia state code makes it illegal to ask anyone to be involved in fraud. The punishment is up to three years in prison. Again, this type of behavior also violates federal law – as former US Attorney General Eric Holder quickly pointed out when the call went public. That is five years old. While listening to the tape, consider this federal criminal status. pic.twitter.com/eqoP1cVob5— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) January 4, 2021 Read more at The Daily Beast. 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