Donald Trump was hit with his fourth indictment as a grand jury in Georgia issued a nearly 100-page indictment accusing the former president and 18 others of a sweeping criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
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00:00 Well, overnight Donald Trump was hit with his fourth indictment as a grand jury in Georgia
00:05 issued a near 100-page indictment accusing the former president and 18 others of a sweeping
00:11 criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
00:15 The Fulton County DA says warrants have been issued for all defendants in this indictment,
00:20 including the former president.
00:22 Here's ABC's Em Wynn.
00:24 Overnight in Georgia, Donald Trump hit with the fourth set of criminal charges implicating
00:28 the former president as the head of a sweeping conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results
00:34 in the state.
00:35 Trump and 18 others, including lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, facing a 41-count
00:41 indictment, all charged under Georgia's racketeering act, often used to prosecute organized crime.
00:47 I make decisions in this office based on the facts and the laws.
00:51 The law is completely nonpartisan.
00:53 Willis' probe sparked in part by that phone call from Trump to Georgia's secretary of
00:57 state where the former president appeared to pressure the top official to find the votes
01:02 needed to win.
01:03 Trump and his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, both charged with solicitation of
01:07 violation of oath by a public officer in relation to that call.
01:11 These new charges, which also include violating the RICO Act, engaging in a conspiracy to
01:16 replace public officials with fake electors and plotting to tamper with voting machines,
01:21 add to Trump's legal woes in the midst of his race for the White House.
01:25 Those are the kinds of allegations that are tougher to defend against.
01:30 The Republican frontrunners campaign slamming the indictment as bogus, saying the legal
01:35 double standards set against President Trump must end.
01:39 And on Capitol Hill, top Democratic leaders issuing a statement saying this indictment
01:44 portrays a repeated pattern of criminal activity, adding praise to Willis, saying no one is
01:49 above the law.
01:50 But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other top Republicans are defending Trump, accusing
01:55 Willis of politicizing persecution, saying she's following Biden's lead by attacking
01:59 President Trump.
02:02 District Attorney Willis has given all defendants, including Trump, until Friday, August 25th,
02:07 to turn themselves in.
02:08 She says she wants to hold the trial within the next six months.
02:12 EmWin, ABC News, Atlanta.