富尔顿县地方检察官法尼·威利斯(Fani Willis)对前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)及其盟友长达数年的调查可能会被证明是特朗普迄今最艰难的法律挑战。
威利斯正在根据佐治亚州的敲诈勒索或RICO法对特朗普和其他18人提出指控，这些指控与推翻该州2020年选举结果的努力有关。
起诉书中写道:“特朗普和起诉书中指控的其他被告拒绝接受特朗普失败的事实，他们明知故犯地故意参与了一场阴谋，非法改变选举结果，使之有利于特朗普。”
如果罪名成立，该指控将导致强制性的最低五年监禁。总统赦免不能免除特朗普或其他人的这种惩罚。
富尔顿县地方检察官Fani Willis在听证会上观看诉讼程序，以决定特别大陪审团调查2020年总统选举可能受到干涉的最终报告是否可以于2023年1月24日在亚特兰大公布。
约翰·巴兹摩尔/美联社，档案
尽管这一事件的解决还遥遥无期，但其政治影响可能会很快浮出水面。
这些佐治亚州的指控只是特朗普在多个司法管辖区面临的漫长刑事指控名单中的最新一项，在每个案件中，他都提出了无罪抗辩。
曾经史无前例的事情——一位前总统面临刑事指控——变成了一种熟悉的节奏。现在，全面的起诉已经宣布，这个国家将等待前总统出现在格鲁吉亚的法庭上。特朗普和他的竞选团队将谴责这些指控。他的竞选活动可能会为这些指控筹集资金。
特朗普和他的竞选团队继续将他的个人法律问题与他的政治运动的原因混为一谈，将这些指控作为巩固其基础的工具。它一直在工作。无数的指控并没有减缓他的竞选。
周一晚间宣布起诉书后，特朗普的竞选团队声称，这些指控是试图“压制人民的选择”，并继续称其为“非美国和错误的”。
尽管他的前三项指控，特朗普仍然远远超过他的共和党初选对手。不管这件事有多严重，都很难看出这件事会对他在共和党基础上的稳定支持产生什么影响。
“他在让自己成为烈士，很多美国人都支持他，因为他们觉得有些事情有点牵强，”佐治亚州国务卿办公室首席运营官加布·斯特林(Gabe Sterling)在起诉前接受美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)“本周”(This Week)采访时说。
还有待观察的是，特朗普竞选团队将如何平衡这位前总统的法律日程和政治日程。随着明年初关键的早期州际竞选的临近，两人将会发生冲突。威利斯表示，她希望在未来六个月内将佐治亚州的案件提交审判。特朗普的联邦案件可能于1月6日开始，最早可能于明年1月2日开始，就在爱荷华州党团会议前几天。
Sweeping indictment could be Trump's biggest legal challenge yet: ANALYSIS
The yearslong probe of former President Donald Trump and his allies by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis may prove to be Trump's toughest legal challenge yet.
Willis is pursuing charges for Trump and 18 others under Georgia's racketeering or RICO law related to efforts to overturn 2020 election results in the state.
"Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump," the indictment reads.
If convicted, the charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. A presidential pardon couldn't absolve Trump or the others from such a punishment.
While any resolution in this case is long off, the political implications could come to the fore much sooner.
These Georgia charges are just the latest slate added to the lengthy list of criminal charges Trump is facing in multiple jurisdictions, where he has entered a not guilty plea in each case.
What was once unprecedented -- a former president facing criminal charges -- has fallen into a familiar cadence. Now, that the sweeping indictment has been announced, the country will wait for the former president to appear in a Georgia courtroom. Trump and his campaign will decry the charges. His campaign will likely fundraise off of these charges.
Trump and his campaign continue to conflate his personal legal problems with the cause of his political movement, using the charges as a tool to gin up his base. It has been working. Numerous charges haven't slowed his campaign yet.
After the announcement of the indictment late Monday, Trump's campaign claimed that the charges were an attempt to "suppress the choice of the people" and went on to describe it as "un-American and wrong."
Despite his first three indictments, Trump still far outpaces his GOP primary rivals. It's hard to see how this case could, regardless of its seriousness, put a dent in his steady support with the Republican base.
"He's making himself a martyr, and a lot of the American people are going behind him because they feel like some of these things are a little bit of a stretch," said Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer in the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State, in an interview on ABC News' "This Week" ahead of the indictment.
What remains to be seen is how the Trump campaign will balance the former president's legal calendar with the political calendar. The two are going to be on a collision course as critical early state contests approach early next year. Willis expressed that she wants to bring this Georgia case to trial in the next six months. Trump's federal case could begin related to Jan. 6 could begin as early as Jan. 2 of next year, just days before the Iowa caucuses.
