# 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:** 34
**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, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/661 "2023-08-17T20:48:24Z")
He had no trouble pleading the 5th before. I don’t actually think the man is completely stupid, he just plays one on TV. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/662 "2023-08-17T20:52:57Z")
What exact language did he use when pleading the 5th? ---
**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, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/663 "2023-08-17T21:05:24Z")
He said “same answer” a lot after first reading a statement that said he declined to answer. I tried to put the video here for you but discourse sez I can’t embed media video. Sorry, It’s on You Tube if you’d like to watch… Just search Trump pleading the fifth. ---
**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, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/664 "2023-08-17T21:20:26Z")
(The original source of having the right, but not the ability, to remain silent AFAIK is the extremely funny “Tater Salad” routine by comedian Ron White. It’s worth YouTubing.) ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/665 "2023-08-17T21:31:20Z")
The judge can ask the same question with different wording. “Mr. Trump, you are quoted in [this newspaper] as having made the following statement {quotes statement} Is there anything you would like to say in response to the quoted statement?” If he says “Fifth amendment” the judge can then issue a contempt citation. He could issue the citation, of course, without having given Trump the chance to claim he never said it, was misquoted, etc., but this way Trump can’t make the claim that he was sanctioned for something he never said. Just dotting tees and crossing eyes. ---
**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, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/666 "2023-08-17T21:53:07Z")
State Senator Colton Moore is calling for the impeachment of Fani Willis. I heard this was something they were going to try. Kick her out or cut off the funding. These people are scaring me silly. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/667 "2023-08-17T21:59:12Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > State Senator Colton Moore is calling for the impeachment of Fani Willis. I heard this was something they were going to try. Kick her out or cut off the funding. I don’t understand why MAGA Republicans are scared. If these are baseless allegations, surly a jury isn’t going to convict their favorite president. Right? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/668 "2023-08-17T22:05:10Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I tried to put the video here for you but discourse sez I can’t embed media video. Sorry, It’s on You Tube if you’d like to watch… Just search Trump pleading the fifth. Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take your word for it. I haven’t watched TV news for over 20 years. I haven’t heard trump’s voice speak more than a couple of words since he debated Hillary Clinton. And I think I am a more sane person for it. If I’m listening to the radio in the car and a newsbite comes on with him speaking, I quickly turn it off (so I’ve maybe heard a word or two), and wait about 20 seconds until he’s likely done. ---
**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:** [August 17, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/669 "2023-08-17T22:06:06Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I tried to put the video here for you but discourse sez I can’t embed media video. Sorry, It’s on You Tube if you’d like to watch… Just search Trump pleading the fifth. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OAqjPXLTUMg/maxresdefault.jpg "WATCH: Trump pleads the Fifth Amendment in deposition by NY Attorney General's office") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAqjPXLTUMg) ---
**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:** [August 17, 2023, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/670 "2023-08-17T22:12:50Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > He had no trouble pleading the 5th before. I don’t actually think the man is completely stupid, he just plays one on TV. No, he’s completely stupid. It’s just that he was laboriously trained, the way you might train a particularly stupid cat. It was drilled into him that when the choice is between perjuring yourself or incriminating yourself, the correct response is to “read the magic words on this here card that you must take into the courtroom with you, and that I’m going to loop around your neck with a string so you don’t lose it. Remember, read the card, do not eat the card.” ---
**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:** [August 17, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/671 "2023-08-17T22:28:25Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take your word for it. To summarize it, he did it in a very Trumpian way. He read a statement which sounds exactly like something he’d send out as a message on his “Truth” platform, declaring everything a witch hunt, that he was the most persecuted politician in the history of the United States, etc. A long rant, the kind you would come to expect from him. He then concludes it by saying something like, “And for these reasons I am invoking my right to plead the right to not answer as guaranteed to all citizens in the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.” And then subsequent questions were given the reply, “Same answer.” He managed to invoke his right to not speak and potentially incriminate himself, while _also_ giving a self-serving and long-winded rant. Again, it was extremely Trumpish of him. ---
**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, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/672 "2023-08-17T22:36:32Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Kick her out or cut off the funding. Cutting off the funding is an idea borrowed from the US House concerning the Smith indictments. If any of it goes anywhere then the lunatics are running the asylum, and the idea of equal justice is a relic. (ETA… Not that we ever achieved the goal of equal justice in this country, mind you.) ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/673 "2023-08-17T23:45:31Z")
Personally, I’m hoping for the laboriously training to completely fail in the courtroom. Nervous breakdown, calling the judge the N word, red and orange face, restrained by lawyers and bailiffs and judge orders for a 730 exam-- or whatever the number for a psych eval is in Georgia. Then we can finally have a REAL doctor give the report about how mentally damaged a man he is. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/674 "2023-08-18T00:08:36Z")
Sad as it is, this would probably be ideal for all concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/675 "2023-08-18T01:44:32Z")
I wonder if mental illness is a possible strategy for the defense. Then he will drop out of race and sue the US for forcing him into depression as a VICTIM!!! ---
**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:** [August 18, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/676 "2023-08-18T20:46:13Z")
Legal Eagle has a video on the Georgia indictment. It condenses a lot of information into a bit over 20 minutes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7mk4nfGX-pM/maxresdefault.jpg "It's RICO in Georgia") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mk4nfGX-pM) Devin does remark on the irony for Giuliani being charged with RICO violations, when he himself pioneered them in NYC many years ago. There’s also a bit of discussion on how ridiculous some of the defenders are being, with some right wing pundits trying to describe things in the most general way possible, and then acting incredulous that such things can be illegal. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/677 "2023-08-19T00:18:16Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > He’d get a ‘crew cut’ in prison I think. It would look better. So he has that going for him. That’s something that gets me. The elaborate hair sculpture on his head, when he’d look so much better with a shaved head. Not that I can stand the sight of him, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2023, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/678 "2023-08-19T00:36:40Z")
Shaved head? I’m pretty sure he’s bald except for the long fringe that he gathers up and sticks on top of his head. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/679 "2023-08-19T00:38:26Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > The elaborate hair sculpture on his head, when he’d look so much better with a shaved head. Here is Donald Trump in 1976. Almost 50 years ago. [![](https://i.insider.com/5f1fe1b3f0f4195079614683?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp) ](https://i.insider.com/5f1fe1b3f0f4195079614683?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp) You’ll notice it’s surprisingly similar to the hairstyle he has today, the messy flop from one side to the other, like it was dumped on his head out of a hair bucket. He was 30 years old in that picture, and I don’t think he wants to admit that he’s not 30 years old anymore. So he tries to keep his hair the same as it was back then. ---
**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 19, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/680 "2023-08-19T01:35:03Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Shaved head? I’m pretty sure he’s bald except for the long fringe that he gathers up and sticks on top of his head. No, I think he has hair and just does that to it for some reason. Anyone remember that one time he slicked his hair back and almost looked human for a moment? [![](https://cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/UYJGV46TGZIVV2VKH5DH7LTBLQ.jpg) ](https://cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/UYJGV46TGZIVV2VKH5DH7LTBLQ.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928.md?page=33) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928.md?page=35)