Georgia judge to allow cameras if Trump indicted in 2020 election probe
A Georgia judge will let the watching world see him sign off on charges against former President Donald Trump if he is indicted for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Peach State.
“If a grand jury presents an indictment, that’s usually in the afternoon, and you can film and photograph that,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said while discussing the looming case during a separate proceeding on Monday, according to The Messenger.
It’s unclear whether the judge’s ruling would be in effect for the duration of any trial.
Local authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also Monday, Atlanta prosecutors accidentally revealed a potential 13-count indictment against Trump, 77, after the two-page filing was briefly posted to the Fulton County court’s website.
A grand jury appointed District Attorney Fani Willis is scheduled to hear testimony on Monday and Tuesday on the potential charges, which include racketeering, conspiracy, making false statements and asking a public official to violate their oath of office.
One of the potential charges references Trump calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, and asking him to “find” 11,780 extra votes in the state.
The indictment — and members of the jury — will be made public once McBurney signs any charges brought by Willis.
What we know about Trump and the 18 others charged in the Georgia 2020 election probe
Donald Trump
- Former president of the United States
- Faces 13 charges related to allegedly lying about election tampering involving the 2020 presidential race in Georgia and repeatedly trying to get state officials to violate their oaths and claim there was voter fraud.
Rudy Giuliani
- Ex-New York City mayor and former federal prosecutor-turned-Trump lawyer
- Faces 13 charges for leading Trump’s election challenges while allegedly conspiring to commit crimes while impersonating a public officer and filing false documents.
Mark Meadows
- Ex-White House chief of staff
- Faces two charges over arranging a Jan. 2 call by Trump to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to try to reverse the state’s election results, after a Dec. 23 call by Trump to Frances Watson, chief investigator for the Georgia secretary of state, to do the same thing.
John Eastman
- Trump lawyer
- Faces nine charges for urging then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject Biden electors, claiming in a court filing that about 72,000 people illegally voted in Georgia and speaking at a rally before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to disrupt certification of the election.
Jeffrey Clark
- Ex-acting assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division
- Faces two charges over writing a late December document allegedly falsely claiming the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the State of Georgia.”
Kenneth Chesebro
- Trump lawyer
- Faces seven charges including for planning for alternate electors to allegedly try to thwart the election results.
Sidney Powell
- Trump lawyer
- Faces seven charges including computer theft, invasion of privacy and efforts to defraud the state after making voter-machine fraud claims and trying to access voter files.
Jenna Ellis
- Trump lawyer
- Faces two charges including for allegedly soliciting a public officer to violate their oath by pressuring state senators to support alternate electors for Trump while falsely claiming election fraud.
Ray Smith
- Trump lawyer
- Faces 12 charges including for allegedly conspiring to supporter the alternate slate of electors and pressuring officials while helping to lead Trump’s Georgia election challenges.
Mike Roman
- Trump campaign aide
- Faces seven charges including for allegedly conspiring to support the alternate electors and committing fraud while working on the plan.
Trevian Kutti
- Ex-Kanye West publicist
- Faces three charges including for allegedly soliciting false statements by meeting with election worker Ruby Freeman for one hour to pressure her to admit to ballot-stuffing at a vote-counting center.
Harrison Floyd
- Ex-executive director of Black Voices for Trump
- Faces three charges including for alleged conspiracy to solicit false statements by helping Kutti to pressure Freeman, including by allegedly saying her safety was at risk and offering protection.
Stephen Lee
- Illinois pastor
- Faces five charges including for allegedly attempting to influence witnesses and solicit false statements by pressuring Freeman, including traveling to her home and speaking with a neighbor.
Robert Cheeley
- Georgia lawyer
- Faces 10 charges including perjury and conspiring to impersonate a public officer when presenting alleged fraud evidence to legislators.
Misty Hampton
- Ex-official in Coffee County, Georgia
- Faces seven charges including conspiring to commit election fraud, computer theft and invasion of privacy after falsely alleging voter-machine fraud.
Scott Hall
- Bail bondsman
- Faces seven charges for being involved in the Coffee County voter-machine fraud claims.
Cathy Latham
- One of 16 alternate Georgia electors for Trump
- Faces 11 charges including for impersonating a public officer, forgery and lying in a deposition about her role in pressing voter-fraud claims in Coffee County.
David Shafer
- One of 16 alternate Georgia electors for Trump
- Faces eight charges including for impersonating a public officer, forgery and lying about his role in convening the alternate electors for a meeting Dec. 14.
Shawn Still
- One of 16 alternate Georgia electors for Trump
- Faces seven charges including for impersonating a public officer, forgery and lying to state senators to falsely claim that two state officials confided there was widespread fraud.
The judge will not read the charges aloud, but members of the press will be permitted to film a Fulton County clerk delivering the document.
“There’s no reading of anything,” McBurney said.
Other charges may also be unveiled against approximately a dozen co-conspirators.
The 45th president is the first current or former commander-in-chief to face criminal indictments in US history.
Federal judges in Washington, DC, and South Florida have ruled against the use of photographic or video equipment inside courtrooms in previous cases against Trump related to his allegedly unlawful acts during the 2020 election and mishandling of classified documents, respectively.
The former president also faces an indictment in Manhattan for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal the reimbursement of “hush money” payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels in order to buy her silence about a purported decade-old affair before the 2016 election.
