# 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:** 32
**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:** [August 17, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/621 "2023-08-17T01:01:00Z")
So they were so racist that the legacy is a fucked up system. 'MURICA! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/622 "2023-08-17T01:05:44Z")
From what I’ve read, the Georgia clemency board is due to a certain governor in the 1930s who went around rather openly selling pardons. I don’t remember the guy’s name. Probably unrelated to why the grand jurors’ names are on the indictment. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/623 "2023-08-17T01:14:40Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I think it was because Coffee County was the only one with an election official stupid enough to invite them in. Stupid and arrogant. > **[Trump ally mocked reporter's purported ignorance of Georgia law — now she's...](https://www.rawstory.com/cathy-latham/)** > > An ally of former President Donald Trump once mocked Politico legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney for his supposed ignorance of Georgia state law — but now she's facing criminal charges for her efforts in trying to overturn Trump's 2020 loss in the... ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/624 "2023-08-17T01:18:29Z")
Yep! Makes you wanna break out with the national anthem, don’t it? (Though now I see the pardon power at least may be due to other factors. If so, it’s still an interesting theory, considering that it proves that the state was willing to make changes based on corruption. I can easily imagine grand juries of the past acquitting good old boys without reason.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/625 "2023-08-17T03:08:44Z")
Interview with a conservative Republican member of Congress, Ken Buck of Colorado; former state prosecutor and former federal prosecutor; says there’s no basis for the state case; should have been content with the federal case. Interesting terminology he uses: > state RICO charges are “a nuclear bomb where a bullet would have been appropriate” So, Congressman, you think that Trump should be taken behind the barn and shot? That’s sorta what your choice of words suggests. And then this: > “RICO was meant to cover mafia cases, it was meant to cover international drug organisations.” You know, serious crimes. Not piddly little things like attempting to subvert the US Constitution. > **[Trump Rico case ‘a nuclear bomb where a bullet’ would do, Republican says](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/16/donald-trump-georgia-rico-nuclear-bomb-ken-buck)** > > Wide-ranging Georgia election subversion indictment is inappropriate, claims House judiciary panel member Ken Buck ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/626 "2023-08-17T03:14:00Z")
Isn’t that how Giuliani first made his bones? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/627 "2023-08-17T03:40:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My guess is that most of the Georgia officials will loudly proclaim that they did everything they could to protect Trump, while actually doing nothing at all. That way, they get to please their base (who don’t know anything about actual factual reality), they get rid of the biggest threat to them personally, and they don’t risk any jail time or other legal consequences. They wouldn’t even be lying. They _did_ do everything they could legally do to help Trump: Nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/628 "2023-08-17T03:56:36Z")
What happened to the tax forms we saw from the NY Times? The understanding was that: 1. Donald Trump has zero real money. He owes $320 million, at least, to debtors, mainly foreign. 2. Those debts were coming due in these four years. He was desperate to win the presidency to hold off these debts. I mean, doesn’t Donald Trump have no money at all? What about his debts coming due? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/629 "2023-08-17T04:12:49Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I’m just hoping there’s a connection between this Charybdis and our boys in Arizona, Gosar and Biggs. I forget… is Gosar the Gatekeeper or the Keymaster? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/630 "2023-08-17T04:47:37Z")
Apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere, but I saw a MAGA lawyer on the twitterverse who suggested what was, to me, a novel idea about a possible defense against Georgia convictions should Trump be elected: The Supremacy Clause. The argument, as this attorney stated, is that > [@](#): > > because the Constitution does not include language on whether a president can be indicted and because the Justice Department has historically opposed indicting a sitting president, a conviction on state charges would be the same as a conviction on federal charges. Thus, he should be able to pardon himself on the racketeering charges in Georgia. There’s a Newsweek article about it here. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/631 "2023-08-17T05:20:46Z")
I’m not a lawyer, much less an American constitutional one. But this is weak beer. Pardoning has always been for federal matters and not state crimes, if one is going to attach weight to history. But since this is unprecedented, historical precedents don’t seem absolute. Is it true a sitting president cannot be tried for anything, then? It is not really true a federal conviction and state conviction are equivalent, as claimed. Trump is not a sitting president now and can pardon nothing if he does not win the next election. And the Tenth Amendment gives states any rights not explicitly stated in the Constitution, should it prove too vague. In fact all states have their own Constitutions and these would apply failing explicit mention in the national one. Could I be wrong? Of course. Probably am. American law is not my balliwick. But so is a MAGA lawyer, methinks. ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/632 "2023-08-17T05:26:55Z")
Regarding the booking process in Georgia, i was just watching a video about how the accused will be expected to show up at the Rice Street jail for booking at any time, 24 hours a day between now and the deadline next Friday. The law officer stated that all of the accused will go through the standard booking process, no special treatment for any of them. This got me thinking. The standard booking process takes hours, a lot of it spent sitting in a holding cell waiting your turn for fingerprinting and mug shots. It involves getting searched _quite_ thoroughly before you’re put into a holding cell. It involves having all of your belongings taken from you before you’re put into a holding cell. Now all of this is frankly delicious to imagine. They’ll take away his phone and watch and maybe even his hideous hair piece. My wicked little heart skipped a beat just thinking about it. But in reality, given the Secret Service involvement and the need for any venue the Main Defendant enters to be secured for his safety as a master of course, will he _really_ be subjected to such a normal course of action? In the federal cases so far they’ve gone a far as closing the courthouse to other business and blocking off streets before trump arrives. There are a whole lot of ways that i deeply believe that this criminal doesn’t deserve any special treatment. Fingerprints, yep. Mug shot, can’t wait! Taking their sweet ass time to do all of that, oh yeah. But aren’t there special security procedures that will need to be put in place before he arrives at the jail and while he’s there just because he’s a former president? There was so much talk of coordinating security procedures in the New York case, the Miami case, and the DC case. How far do you think Fulton County jail will go to make the point of “no special treatment”? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/633 "2023-08-17T05:35:26Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > The argument, as this attorney stated, is that Because an apple is a fruit, and a tomato is traditionally treated as a vegetable, despite technically also being a fruit, a fish can ride a unicycle. Although I am also NAL, this sounds like desperate flailing. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/634 "2023-08-17T05:48:09Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Is it true a sitting president cannot be tried for anything, then? No, the important takeaway here is that Donald Trump, specifically, must not be held accountable for anything. They aren’t making the broader argument because then they can’t lock up Biden. As for the legal rationale behind this, it’s because reasons. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/635 "2023-08-17T06:07:01Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > …standard booking … fingerprinting … mug shots … searched _quite_ thoroughly … belongings taken … his phone … watch … hair piece. But were the Secret Service to perform these tasks there’d be no foul, surely? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/636 "2023-08-17T06:37:53Z")
I doubt there would be a foul in any event. I am unfamiliar with Georgia’s jail procedures, but as a lawyer, I’ve been to the local jail enough times. My position gives me some privileges when I visit, but I’ve learned to leave anything I won’t need inside, in the car (e.g. cellphone) before going in. My briefcase is sometimes searched, and on occasion, I’ve been asked to leave my car keys and my wallet and my watch with the officers where I check in. Everything, even the stuff I won’t need (e.g. pocket change that I forgot to leave in the car) is bagged in my sight, the bag is sealed, and it is clearly tagged, and I pick everything up on the way out. I’m basically left with a couple of pens, my glasses, and a notepad. The officers are always professional. I see no reason why Georgia’s officers couldn’t be with Mr. Trump also. Really, I’m sure that what Mr. Trump would undergo would be similar to the TSA’s dreaded “XXXX” screening at an airport. Empty all pockets. Remove your suit jacket and your shoes and your belt. Everything gets x-rayed. Get frisked, very closely. In private, if you want. And so on. Everything he should not have before going further will be bagged and clearly tagged and will be returned to him when he leaves, just as my things are always returned to me when I leave. Point is, that Georgia’s jail officers could do this perhaps better and more efficiently than the Secret Service. Which can, of course, observe the proceedings, to make sure that everything is on the up-and-up. But the Georgia officers do this every day, while I doubt that the Secret Service does. It’s a Georgia matter. Their state; their rules. I guess we’ll see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/637 "2023-08-17T06:41:08Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Is it true a sitting president cannot be tried for anything, then? There’s nothing in the Constitution about this. There’s no precedence, since no one has tried to do it before. There’s just a DoJ memo that says it’s their policy not to indict the current President. I expect that if the framers of the Constitution were to be asked, they’d say that the President should first be impeached and then they could be charged with a crime. And that’s probably why the DoJ’s policy. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/638 "2023-08-17T12:31:58Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > > [@MulderMuffin](#): > > > > …standard booking … fingerprinting … mug shots … searched _quite_ thoroughly … belongings taken … his phone … watch … hair piece. > > But were the Secret Service to perform these tasks there’d be no foul, surely? …body cavity search. Oh, that would be foul for sure! ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/639 "2023-08-17T13:06:25Z")
For the person doing the search, surely! ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/640 "2023-08-17T13:20:54Z")
OTOH, when I was escorting prisoners from the ER to our medical guard unit there were always 2 CO’s and one would stay outside with the weapons because none were allowed to go into the secure area. I suppose they’ll be some prior arrangements made to get around that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928.md?page=33)