Trump indictment live: Trump reacts as he and 18 allies charged over 41-count Georgia election plot

The judge in Donald Trump‘s Manhattan hush-money criminal case has rejected the former president’s demand to step aside, denying defense claims that he’s biased against the Republican front-runner because he’s given cash to Democrats and his daughter is a party consultant.

New York Judge Juan Manuel Merchan acknowledged in a ruling late Friday that he made several small donations to Democratic causes during the 2020 campaign, including $15 to Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden, but said he is certain of his “ability to be fair and impartial.”

Removing himself from the case “would not be in the public interest,” Merchan wrote. His six-page ruling echoed a state court ethics panel’s recent opinion that endorsed his continued involvement in the Trump case.

The decision on recusal was entirely up to Merchan. He previously rejected a similar request when Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, was on trial last year for tax fraud.

Kanye West’s ex-publicist Trevian Kutti was among those to be charged in the latest indictment of former US president Donald Trump.

The charges relate to the alleged intimidation of election workers following the 2020 US presidential election.

According to the charges, Kutti, 51, travelled to the home of Ruby Freeman, an election worker in Fulton County, Georgia, in January 2021.

Her visit came amid repeated and unfounded accusations of election fraud from Trump, who lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden.

In total, the former president is now facing 91 criminal charges from four separate criminal cases.

On 14 August, Mr Trump and 18 of his allies were hit with an indictment in Fulton County over his effort to overturn the 2020 election in the state of Georgia.

He was previously hit with a federal indictment on 1 August over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot, following an investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith’s office.

This came after Mr Smith’s office charged Mr Trump for the first time over his alleged mishandling of classified documents on leaving office.

Back in April, Mr Trump was charged for the first time with New York state charges following an investigation into hush money payments made prior to the 2016 election.

Here’s the number of charges in each case:

• Manhattan hush money case: 34 charges
• Federal case over classified documents: 40 charges
• Federal case over efforts to overturn 2020 election: 4 charges
• Georgia case over efforts to overturn 2020 election: 13 charges

Donald Trump railed against “out of control” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis – and spelled “indicted” wrong – as he hit back at the sweeping 98-page indictment handed down in Georgia.

The former president and 18 of his allies were hit with a total of 41 criminal counts under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, over their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.

Taking to Truth Social in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday, the former president ranted that the indictment is “rigged” and a “Witch Hunt”, while also managing to mispel the “indicted” as “Indicated”.

Read the full story here:

Donald Trump and 18 others charged in Monday’s indictment face a slew of charges, including racketeering, violating the oath of a public officer, forgery, false statements and other offences.

Here’s a list of all 19 defendants who must all surrender to authorities by 25 August:

The fourth indictment of former president Donald Trump may be the most sweeping yet.
The sprawling, 98-page case unveiled on Monday opens up fresh legal ground and exposes more than a dozen of Mr Trump’s allies to new jeopardy.

But it also raises familiar legal issues of whether the First Amendment allows a politician to try to overturn an election. Already, Mr Trump and his supporters are alleging the indictment is the product of a politicised, corrupt process to hobble him as he competes for the GOP nomination to face president Joe Biden next year.

Here are some takeaways from Monday’s indictment:

Former president Donald Trump appeared on Fox News following his fourth indictment in Georgia, and vowed to win the next year’s presidential election to “Make America Great Again”.

Mr Trump and 18 of his allies have been indicted on a total of 41 counts for trying to change the outcome of Georgia’s vote in the 2020 presidential election. It is his fourth criminal indictment in less than five months.

Speaking on Fox, the former president described his legal woes as coming during a “dark period for our country”.

“Nineteen people were indicted, and the whole world is laughing at the United States as they see how corrupt and horrible a place it has turned out to be under the leadership of crooked Joe Biden,” Mr Trump told Fox News Digital late on Monday night.

“The racist and corrupt district attorney of Fulton County, which has turned out to be a murder capital of the world with among the highest violent crime levels anywhere in our country, just opened a fundraising site in order to benefit off the things she most campaigned on, ‘I will get Donald Trump,’” he said, targeting Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.

Repeating his characterisation of the legal cases against him, Mr Trump said the Georgia grand jury indictment “is a continuation of the greatest and longest-running witch hunt in American history”.

Former president Donald Trump inflated attendance numbers of his appearance at the Iowa State Fair, saying he had a record attendance for his campaign stop.

Mr Trump gave a press conference at the fairgrounds in Des Moines that was broadcast by Real America’s Voice.

“It’s a real honour to be here,” he said. “We have a record that was set. The record is the largest crowd they’ve ever had and I can see that because you can’t get any more people here. I’m very honoured by it, tremendous thing.”