Indictments

Donald Trump

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Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden by over 7 million popular votes and 74 Electoral College votes. Despite this, Trump refused to concede and launched an unprecedented campaign to overturn the results, promoting false claims of widespread voter fraud. His own Attorney General, Bill Barr, stated the DOJ found no evidence of fraud sufficient to change the outcome. Trump was indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith for his efforts to overturn the election and by Fulton County DA Fani Willis in a RICO case related to the fake electors scheme.

Fani Willis

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Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, brought a sweeping RICO case against Trump and 18 co-defendants for their efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. The case encompassed the Raffensperger phone call, the fake electors scheme, harassment of election workers, and efforts to access voting machines. Several defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate, including Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Jenna Ellis.

Fulton County, Georgia became a central focus of efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It is the location of the Raffensperger phone call pressure, the false accusations against election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, and the RICO case brought by DA Fani Willis against Trump and 18 co-defendants.

Jack Smith was appointed Special Counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Smith's office secured a four-count indictment against Trump for conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction, and conspiracy against the right to vote. The indictment laid out a detailed scheme involving fake electors, pressure on state officials, and the events of January 6. Smith resigned after Trump won the 2024 election, citing DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

On January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol while Congress was certifying the Electoral College results. The attack followed a rally where Trump told supporters to "fight like hell" and march to the Capitol. Five people died in connection with the attack, approximately 140 police officers were injured, and over 1,200 people were subsequently charged with federal crimes. The attack temporarily halted the certification but Congress reconvened and certified Biden's victory early the next morning.

January 6th Committee

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The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol was a bipartisan congressional committee that conducted a comprehensive investigation into the events of January 6, 2021, and the broader effort to overturn the 2020 election. The committee held 10 public hearings, interviewed over 1,000 witnesses, and produced a final report recommending criminal charges against Donald Trump. The committee was chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson with Rep. Liz Cheney serving as Vice Chair.

Jeffrey Clark

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Jeffrey Clark was a DOJ official who drafted a letter to Georgia officials falsely claiming the DOJ had identified "significant concerns" about the election — a letter his superiors refused to send. Clark attempted to get Trump to appoint him as Acting Attorney General so he could send the letter, a scheme that was only stopped when DOJ leadership threatened mass resignations. He was indicted in the Fulton County RICO case.

John Eastman

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John Eastman authored a legal memo arguing that Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to reject certified Electoral College votes on January 6 — a theory rejected by virtually all constitutional scholars and by Pence himself. Eastman was disbarred in California for his role in attempting to overturn the election. He was indicted in both the federal case and the Fulton County RICO case.

Kenneth Chesebro was the legal architect of the fake electors scheme, which involved creating slates of fraudulent electors in states Biden won and submitting them to Congress and the National Archives as if they were legitimate. Chesebro pleaded guilty in the Fulton County RICO case. The scheme was a key component of the broader effort to overturn the election results on January 6.

Mark Meadows

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Mark Meadows served as White House Chief of Staff during Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He participated in the phone call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes." Meadows was indicted in the Fulton County RICO case and reached a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Jack Smith. Text messages revealed his involvement in coordinating efforts to challenge election results across multiple states.

On January 2, 2021, Donald Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and pressured him to "find 11,780 votes" — one more than Biden's margin of victory in the state. The hour-long call was recorded by Raffensperger's office and published by The Washington Post. During the call, Trump made multiple false claims about the election that Raffensperger's team refuted in real time. The call became central evidence in the Fulton County RICO indictment.