Georgia | Failed, Trump faces political and legal threats

The former Republican president was defeated this week in his strategy to defeat party-elected officials who refused to overturn the election in a state won by Joe Biden by wire.

The Republican billionaire has been concentrating his efforts for a year and a half trying to prove that the presidential election was “stolen” from him due to supposed “grand fraud”, which was never proven.

But the three candidates he supported all lost Tuesday in the party’s primary, soundly for governor, in a sign that voters approved his interference in state affairs.

On January 2, 2021, he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Ravensberger to “find” enough ballot papers in his favor to nullify the result of the November ballot.

A few weeks ago, Fanny Willis, the attorney general for Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, named a grand jury to determine if there was enough evidence to prosecute him.

The process may take a year. Dozens of witnesses have been heard and 30 people who refused to testify must be called.

” without value ”

In his phone call with Brad Ravensburger, he claimed to have expelled Georgia “by hundreds of thousands of votes” in advance, cited various conspiracy theories, and asked the Secretary of State to “find 11,780 ballot papers” in his favour, more than one on the margins of his defeat.

The content of the conversation, which was revealed the next day by Washington Postraised a shriek.

In February, m.^me Willis announced an investigation into possible pressure exerted by Donald Trump on other Georgian elected officials, such as Governor Brian Kemp and Representative Chris Carr.

In an October memo, attorneys at the Brookings Institution think tank said there was a “significant risk of multiple torture trials” of Mr Trump in Georgia.

The memo stated that the former president’s behavior “far exceeded the framework of his powers” and his arguments in his defense could be considered “useless”.

Donald Trump has dismissed wrongdoing and denounced “radical, malicious, racist prosecutors” during a meeting in Texas in January, prompting Fanny Willis to demand additional precautions.

Facing threats of prosecution, the former reality TV star has turned to public opinion to salvage his chances of a new run in 2024.

But there, too, he was subdued by the sweeping victories of Brad Ravensberger, Brian Kemp and Chris Carr.

“As fair as possible”

This state of 10 million people will be one of the keys to the upcoming presidential election, but Tuesday’s primaries seem to show voters are tired of Donald Trump’s attitudes.

“I voted for him, but I didn’t like the accusations against our state,” retired employee Elsa Dushanbe, who met her at a meeting with Governor Kemp, told AFP.

The 78-year-old does not believe in the conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election.

“The elections were as fair as possible,” she said. My husband worked for the electoral authorities and he understood them. And no, I don’t think they were stolen. »

It remains to be seen whether the Georgia primaries foretell a national movement, but recent weeks have in any case revealed signs of the billionaire’s losing influence over the Republican Party.

He has had notable successes, such as the victory of former spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Arkansas, but has supported as many losers as winners in various state governors’ races.

“There’s a kind of rhetoric emerging about how strong Mr. Trump’s support is not going to weaken,” Ness Yovut, president of the New Georgia Project, which advocates for voting rights, told AFP.

“Although they are bad leaders in my opinion, Brad Ravensburger and Brian Kemp showed how (Republicans) can win without the support of Mr. Trump in a state like Georgia,” she added.