How DA Willis could use Georgia’s RICO law against Donald Trump

24 January 2023

More than two years into Joe Biden’s presidency, former President Donald Trump continues to face a variety of criminal and civil investigations. One of the criminal probes is being conducted by Fulton County, Georgia District Fani Willis, whose office has been examining Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in her state.

So far, no charges against Trump have been filed in connection with Willis’ investigation. But journalist Carlisa N. Johnson, reporting for The Guardian in an article published on January 24, looks at the possibility of Georgia’s RICO law being used against Trump.

Johnson reports, “An Atlanta prosecutor appears ready to use the same Georgia statute to prosecute Donald Trump that she used last year to charge dozens of gang members and well-known rappers who allegedly conspired to commit violent crime…. Willis, who has not shied away from high-profile cases, has made headlines for her aggressive style of prosecution. Willis was a lead prosecutor in the 2013 prosecution of educators in Atlanta accused of inflating students’ scores on standardized tests. More recently, Willis brought a case against a supposed Georgia gang known as YSL, including charges against rappers Yung Thug and Gunna.”

As part of Willis’ Trump probe, her office has been taking a close look at his interactions with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. After losing Georgia to Biden, Trump asked Raffensperger, a conservative Republican, to “find” him enough popular votes to give him Georgia’s electoral votes. But Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, another Republican, maintained that Biden won Georgia fairly.

Clark D. Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University, said it would be a “stroke of genius” if Willis used Georgia’s RICO law to prosecute Trump.

Cunningham told The Guardian, “Among the things that are considered racketeering activity in the state of Georgia is knowingly and willfully making a false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of state government. If you do that, you’ve committed a racketeering activity. If you attempt to do that, if you solicit someone else to do it or you coerce someone else to do it — it’s all considered racketeering under Georgia law.”

The law professor said of Willis and Trump, “There appear to be clear criminal activities, and (no matter) whether or not the person at the top, in this case, Trump, was directly involved in each activity or not, if he participated in what is shown to be a racketeering organization, which ‘Stop the Steal’ might be, and conspired with others, participated directly or indirectly, he can be shown to have violated the RICO law.”

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