On Monday night, in what has now become a regularly occurring event, Donald Trump was indicted for allegedly committing a whole bunch of crimes. This time it was by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, who accused the ex-president of plotting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, and charged him and 18 co-conspirators with, among other things, violating the state’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. If the terms “RICO” and “racketeer” sound familiar to you but you can’t figure out why, it’s probably because the law, passed on the federal level in 1970, has been famously used to crack down on organized crime groups like the Mafia, members of which are probably currently throwing around terms like “numbnuts” and “jamoke” in reference to the ex-president. In addition to the RICO charge, the Fulton County indictment includes more than three dozen counts, 13 of which Trump was charged with.

While Trump has obviously been indicted before—see the Manhattan hush money indictment, Jack Smith’s classified-documents indictment, and Smith’s election-interference indictment—the Georgia case should be especially worrisome to him given that 1) he can’t simply pardon himself if he becomes president again, as the case is state and not federal, and 2) the racketeering charge alone carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison, with a maximum of 20. (Other counts would of course also come with prison time; a conspiracy conviction, for example, would result in a minimum of a year in prison.)

Willis has said she wants the case to go to trial within the next six months, which would put it well before the general election. And based on the 98-page indictment, it seems pretty unlikely that things will go well for the former guy. Among the craziest allegations that are unlikely to convince a jury that the ex-president and his associates are innocent?

As the indictment notes, Trump’s false claim on November 4, 2020, that he had won the election was not some off-the-cuff, spur-of-the-moment declaration made in the heat of the moment. Rather, “approximately four days earlier, on or about October 31, 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP discussed a draft speech with unindicted co-conspirator Individual l…that falsely declared victory and falsely claimed voter fraud. The speech was an overt act in furtherance oft he conspiracy.”

Note to anyone thinking of trying to overturn a free and fair election: maybe don’t commit your plan to pen and paper? From the indictment:

On or between the 1st day of December 2020 and the 31st day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP and MARK RANDALL MEADOWS met with John McEntee and requested that McEntee prepare a memorandum outlining a strategy for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, the day prescribed by law for counting votes cast by the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from Georgia and the other states. The strategy included having Vice President Michael R. “Mike” Pence count only half of the electoral votes from certain states and then return the remaining electoral votes to state legislatures. The request was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

Here’s Willis on Rudy Giuliani, and just one of the many instances in which he allegedly told a bunch of ridiculous lies in an attempt to keep Trump in power:

On or about the 3rd day of December 2020, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI committed the felony offense of FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS, in violation of O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20, in-Fulton County, Georgia, by knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making at least one of the following false statements and representations to members of the Georgia Senate present at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee meeting: 

1. That at least 96,600 mail-in ballots were counted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia, despite there being no record of those ballots having been returned to a county elections office

2. That Dominion Voting Systems equipment used in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Antrim County, Michigan, mistakenly recorded 6,000 votes for Joseph R. Biden when the votes were actually cast for Donald John Trump

And here she is again on the man once known as “America’s mayor”:

On or about the 10th day of December 2020, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI committed the felony offense of FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS, in violation of O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20, in Fulton County, Georgia, by knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making at least one of the following false statements and representations to members of the Georgia House of Representatives present at a House Governmental Affairs Committee meeting:

1. That it is quite clear from the State Farm Arena video from November 3, 2020, that Fulton County election workers were stealing votes and that Georgia officials were covering up a crime in plain sight

2. That at State Farm Arena on November 3, 2020, Democratic officials “got rid of all of the reporters, all the observers, anyone that couldn’t be trusted,” used the excuse of a watermain break, cleared out the voting area and then “went about their dirty, crooked business”

3. That between 12,000 and 24,000 ballots were illegally counted by Fulton County election workers at State Farm Arena on November 3, 2020

4. That in Michigan, there were 700,000 more ballots counted than were sent out to voters in the November 3, 2020, presidential election, which was accounted for by quadruple counting ballots

5. That Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and an unidentified man were “quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine” at State Farm Arena to be used to “infiltrate the crooked Dominion voting machines”

6. That 96,600 mail-in ballots were counted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia, despite there being no record of those ballots having been returned to a county elections office

According to prosecutors, “on or about the 14th day of December 2020, DAVID JAMES SHAFER sent a text message to unindicted co-conspirator Individual 4…that stated, ‘Listen. Tell them to go straight to Room 216 to avoid drawing attention to what we are doing,’ in reference to the December 14, 2020, meeting of Trump presidential elector nominees in Fulton County, Georgia. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”

Did Shafer write “don’t draw any attention to the crimes we’re about to commit”? No, but he might as well have.

Here’s a fun one:

On or about the 13th day of December 2020, KENNETH JOHN CHESEBRO sent an e-mail to RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI with the subject “PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL – Brief notes on ‘President of the Senate’ strategy.” In the e-mail, KENNETH JOHN CHESEBRO outlined multiple strategies for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, the day prescribed by law for counting votes cast by the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from Georgia and the other states. In the e-mail, KENNETH JOHN CHESEBRO stated that the strategies outlined by him were “preferable to allowing the Electoral Count Act to operate by its terms.”

Its “terms” are, of course, dictated by the law, as opposed to the whims and desires of Team Trump.

Thanks to their testimony before the January 6 committee, we know about the shocking campaign of harassment against election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, Freeman’s daughter. The indictment references some of the vile lies Team Trump allegedly told about the two women and also cites Stephen Cliffgard Lee’s pressure campaign on Freeman, which involved showing up at Freeman’s house. Trevian Kutti is also accused of pressuring Freeman to admit to election fraud.

Remember when Donald Trump called up Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and demanded the state official magically “find” the specific number of votes needed to overturn Biden’s win in Georgia? Well, Willis does—and she says it constituted a felony, as did other things said on the call:

On or about the 2nd day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP committed the felony offense of FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS, in violation of O.C.G.A. § 16- 10-20, in Fulton County, Georgia, by knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making at least one of the following false statements and representations to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs, and Georgia Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany:

1. That anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia

2. That thousands of people attempted to vote in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia and were told they could not because a ballot had already been cast in their name

3. That 4,502 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were not on the voter registration list

4. That 904 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were registered at an address that was a post office box

5. That Ruby Freeman was a professional vote scammer and a known political operative

6. That Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joseph R. Biden at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia

7. That close to 5,000 dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia

8. That 139% of people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Detroit

9. That 200,000 more votes were recorded than the number of people who voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania

10. That thousands of dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Michigan

11. That Ruby Freeman stuffed the ballot boxes

12. That hundreds of thousands of ballots had been “dumped” into Fulton County and another county adjacent to Fulton County in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia

13. That he won the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia by 400,000 votes

Trump’s tweets have been a subject of discussion for years thanks to his habit of randomly attacking Hollywood actors and shouting out “haters and losers” on 9/11. But now they’re also being referenced in the Georgia indictment because prosecutors say they were part of his conspiracy to stay in power:

On or about the 3rd day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, “Wow! Blockbuster testimony taking place right now in Georgia. Ballot stuffing by Dems when Republicans were forced to leave the large counting room. Plenty more coming, but this alone leads to an easy win of the State!” This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

On or about the 14th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, “What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is. Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way. Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW. Otherwise, could be a bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th.” This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. 

On or about the 3rd day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, “I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters’, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!” This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. 

We’ve long known about Trump’s plot to get Pence to block the certification of Joe Biden’s win—and Trump’s frustration with his VP for refusing. As the indictment reminds us:

On or about the 5th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP met with Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office at the White House. During the meeting, DONALD JOHN TRUMP stated that Pence had the power to decertify the November 3, 2020, presidential election results, that people cheated, and that Pence wanted to “play by Marquess of Queensberry rules.” When Pence stated that it was his duty to support and defend the Constitution and that only Congress had the power to decide to reject slates of presidential electors, DONALD JOHN TRUMP stated that Pence was naive, implied that he lacked courage, and stated that Pence was doing “a great disservice.” This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

If you’re unfamiliar with “Marquess of Queensberry rules,” they are 19th-century boxing rules that mandated, among other things, the use of gloves instead of bare knuckles and prohibited shoes or boots with spikes. Who knows what Trump was getting at, but it sure sounds like he was suggesting that Pence should fight dirty and was irked that the VP would not.

Yeah, pretty sure you’re not allowed to do this: 

On and between the 6th day of December 2020 and the 7th day of January 2021, SIDNEY KATHERINE POWELL, CATHLEEN ALSTON LATHAM, SCOTT GRAHAM HALL, and MISTY HAMPTON committed the felony offense of CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE STATE, in violation of O.C.G.A. § 16-10-21, in Coffee County, Georgia, by unlawfully conspiring and agreeing to commit theft of voter data, property which was under the control of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a state officer, in his official capacity. This was an act of racketeering activity under O.C.G.A. § 16-14-3(5)(B) and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

According to the indictment, “on or about the 27th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP solicited Acting United States Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting United States Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to make a false statement by stating, ‘Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.'"

Emphasis ours because, really, does it get any more incriminating than this?

Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong, claiming, as per usual, that he is the victim of a witch hunt. As for Giuliani, he recently said, “This is a completely unjustified and disgusting act of retribution, as I had the temerity to unveil the biggest scandal in American history—and for that, my parents are proud of me, and I don’t give a damn about the rest.”