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Salon
Salon
Politics
Gabriella Ferrigine

Trump Fulton defense may badly backfire

Following Donald Trump's Monday night indictment, his fourth in five months, the former president claimed that he would present an "Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud" he persistently and baselessly claims took place in Georgia. "A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference at 11:00 A.M. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey," Trump wrote in a Tuesday Truth Social post. "Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others - There will be a complete EXONERATION! They never went after those that Rigged the Election. They only went after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!"

National security attorney Bradley Moss mocked the idea that Trump would present a "detailed and irrefutable report that he has been holding on to for 2.5 years and never presented in any court of law." Stephen Fowler, a reporter for Georgia Public Broadcasting, pointed out the irony in Trump's argument, noting that he "is now arguing the new Georgia racketeering charges against him should be dropped by ... making similar false claims of fraud in a way that got him indicted not 12 hours ago." Politico legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney pointed out that "Trump's attempt to do a version of this in a Sept. 2021 letter to Brad Raffensperger is literally a charge in the indictment," referring to a letter the ex-president sent to Georgia's Secretary of State asking him to decertify the results of the 2020 election. 

Michael Bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and Justice Department inspector general, warned that Trump's plan may backfire. "Trump's lawyers will be hiding under the covers, and prosecutors will be listening for obstruction and witness tampering," he wrote. "The most likely result: accelerated trial dates in DC and Georgia."

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