# What happens if Trump is indicted in Georgia? (Indicted on August 14, 2023) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 17, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928 "2023-02-17T03:14:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 129
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2561 "2024-03-15T16:41:20Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > What grinds my gears about his decision is how it is rested on the “appearance of impropriety.” I get it, but as I recall, the Georgia law does mention “appearance of impropriety” as a factor. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2562 "2024-03-15T16:46:27Z")
having read all 23 pages, i can understand his decision. do not get me started on justice thomas! arrrgh! ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2563 "2024-03-15T16:47:22Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > and get up to speed on a complex case > > I don’t get why it’s complex. Aren’t all RICO cases complex? And won’t finding an impartial jury be unusually difficult due to extraordinary pretrial publicity? I’ll concede it is less complex than before the judge dismissed some counts, and four defendants agreed to plea bargains. But there still are many counts to be proven, and, I think, fifteen defendants. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2564 "2024-03-15T16:49:02Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > He commented on the lack of a financial record to buttress her testimony. That’s not how this works! The defense alleged bad acts. _They_ need to provide the evidence. Stop me if I’m wrong here, but I think that the defense provided evidence that Wade purchased some things of value for Willis - plane tickets and the like. Certainly you can feel that Willis’s testimony (that she reimbursed through cash payments) had a great deal of credibility, but it’s not a good look and it’s not the sort of thing that would pass, say, an IRS audit. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2565 "2024-03-15T19:11:13Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Stop me if I’m wrong here, but I think that the defense provided evidence that Wade purchased some things of value for Willis - plane tickets and the like. > > Certainly you can feel that Willis’s testimony (that she reimbursed through cash payments) had a great deal of credibility, but it’s not a good look and it’s not the sort of thing that would pass, say, an IRS audit. But we’re not discussing a tax return where certain evidence is a requirement. “I claim $1M in charitable donation deductions. But I have no receipts.” Uh, no… The assertion here is that some scary financial chicanery took place. The crazy town assertion, I think, is that Willis both pursued and stretched out a case for the purpose of giving her boyfriend a sweet gig so he could pay for vacations and such. The evidence in play, the fact that she fought the defense measures to extend the proceedings, the indictments, none of that was operative. Somehow, the fact that she screwed one of her consultants and they spent money on each other—none of which is illegal—was grounds for dismissing the case, or removing Willis at a minimum. If everything the defense alleged was unambiguously true—she hired her boyfriend and he paid for their vacations—_how did that harm the defendants?_ If there was matter for review, it was in scope for whatever ethics body oversees such matters. It impacted the cases not a whit. The fact that the judge gave it more than a bench dismissal of the motions is a disgrace. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2566 "2024-03-15T19:21:28Z")
nathan wade has stepped down from the ga case. per msnbc. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2567 "2024-03-15T20:04:41Z")
Ayup. More: > **[Lead prosecutor in Georgia election case resigns following judge's decision...](https://news.yahoo.com/gma/judge-trump-election-case-expected-090110125.html)** > > The judge in Donald Trump's Georgia election case declined to outright disqualify DA Fani Willis, but ruled that either she or prosecutor Nathan Wade must step aside. So much for the ongoing Row about Wade. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2568 "2024-03-15T20:14:32Z")
When the judge said Fani’s testimony was, I think he wrote, unprofessional or improper, it was leaden to read that. I thought she was awesome how she saw the lines of questioning coming and would smack them down and away. It was like watching an Olympic athlete. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2569 "2024-03-15T21:07:27Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > So much for the ongoing Row about Wade. Go to your room. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2570 "2024-03-15T22:12:05Z")
Unprofessional. I believe he was referring to her holding up papers and saying “this is a lie!”. He had the court take a 5 minute break immediately following that. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2571 "2024-03-15T22:22:16Z")
Well now that Trump has succeeded in his quest to smear the prosecutor, I wonder who Trump will use this tactic on next? Maybe the judge’s wife has done something, perhaps anything in the entirety of her lifetime that Trump can use to say the judge can’t possibly be impartial. Let’s see the judge maintain his professional decorum when Trump is dragging him and his family through the mud. Because now that this has worked, Trump will repeat it over and over again everywhere he can. Everybody has some “appearance of impropriety” somewhere in their life and Trump has just turned it into a get out of jail free card. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2572 "2024-03-15T22:35:05Z")
All that will do is energize his base of sycophants. It won’t have any practical effect on the judicial process. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2573 "2024-03-16T10:57:55Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > If everything the defense alleged was unambiguously true—she hired her boyfriend and he paid for their vacations—_how did that harm the defendants?_ If there was matter for review, it was in scope for whatever ethics body oversees such matters. It impacted the cases not a whit. The fact that the judge gave it more than a bench dismissal of the motions is a disgrace. So very very true. I am so disappointed. This was the one Trump case that combined “about a critical matter”\* and “pretty likely to result in a conviction, given what we all have heard with our own ears.”\*\* (\*i.e., not about porn stars or business boasts or whatnot. I’m not saying the assault on E. Jean Carroll wasn’t serious…but nor was it about the future of democracy. \*\*The January 6 riot/attempted coup federal case is, I’m sorry to say, a bit harder to prove.) ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2574 "2024-03-16T11:36:49Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I am so disappointed. In his monologue yesterday,comedian Bill Maher summed up the lesson to be learned from the Willis ‘scandal’ : He said “you’re allowed to steal an election if the person who caught you has a boyfriend”. I’ve stopped following all of Trump’s court cases.Because it seems to me that he’s going to escape responsibility from all of them. If he has to pay any fines he’ll just take the money from the republican party. And the cases where he is facing jail time, he will just delay delay and delay. It’s sad. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2575 "2024-03-16T12:31:14Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > He said “you’re allowed to steal an election if the person who caught you has a boyfriend”. Bill Maher might have some issues, but that sums it all up perfectly. Love it. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2576 "2024-03-18T22:55:47Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I’ve stopped following all of Trump’s court cases.Because it seems to me that he’s going to escape responsibility from all of them. Not me, because he hasn’t. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2577 "2024-03-18T23:04:04Z")
As of today, on paper, he hasn’t. I understand the frustration with accountability. It _seems_ to be imminent. Seems to. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2578 "2024-03-25T21:55:05Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > … the fact that she screwed one of her consultants and they spent money on each other—none of which is illegal—was grounds for … Actually, I understand that Georgia has a law that makes “adultery” illegal, somewhere buried in state code. Wade’s divorce was not final, so either Fani Willis was running afoul of (flouting) state law, or she was abetting Wade’s criminal behavior. The fact that no one in about ever has been indicted on these misdemeanor charges is irrelevant: Fani Willis was breaking the law. Therefore, Individual-ONE must have these charges against him dismissed, because the defendant has never been an adultress. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2579 "2024-03-25T21:57:40Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Therefore, Individual-ONE must have these charges against him dismissed, because the defendant has never been an adultress. I love how you made that technically true. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/2580 "2024-03-25T22:55:49Z")
Yes, one of the lawyers tried the adultery is illegal argument, the judge shut that down right quick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928.md?page=128) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928.md?page=130)