Thread by @ProfMJCleveland

🚩🚩🚩THREAD on GA Indictment: Read entire indictment last night & basic reaction was there were different buckets and only one that could hold anything--false statements to grand jury/legislature. If intentional false statements to grand jury, yes crime. I'd think same 1/

2/ re legislature but would need to check GA law. BUT for both, defendants need intent, not mistaken. The other bucket was RICO (racketeering influence corruption organization-or something) conspiracy crime which can't hold water b/c it is premised on false assumption

3/ everyone knew Trump lost & tried to steal election, while evidence is that Defendants believed election was tainted & sought constitutional method of addressing that. Might have been imprudent, constitutionally unsound, but it wasn't crime.

4/ By charging RICO conspiracy, Fulton County attempted to criminalizes lots and lots of totally legal things, but again the conspiracy claim fails b/c there was no underlying illicit plan to steal election.

5/ So, with that all the "oh watch TV" and other Tweets and such goes out the window. Then we have the "fake elector bucket" which as I've already detailed is bullsh!t.
thefederalist.com/2023/05/15/the…

6/ The next bucket is the "petition the government for redress" bucket which is all the telephone calls/meetings/emails to state and federal officials trying to get them to use LEGAL methods address the tainted election.

7/ Then there's a tiny bucket that hits @JeffClarkUS with bogus claims that I've already detailed here. thefederalist.com/2022/10/05/dc-…

@JeffClarkUS 8/ And relatedly, a bigger bucket that seeks to criminalize legal advise on what the constitution allows to address a tainted election, whether it be special sessions of state legislators to name electors or Congress rejecting electors & sending back to state.

@JeffClarkUS 9/ The legal advise might have been weak, or imprudent, but it wasn't criminal. Again, leaving the lying to grand jury (legislature?) as the only things that could hold water. Keep 👀on @FDRLST tomorrow for more details!

@JeffClarkUS @FDRLST 10/10 Sidenote: All the stuff about other states comes in to show the RICO conspiracy, but again illicit goal & what happened in other states was likewise legitimate efforts to challenge election.