The Georgia indictment relates to his (and 18 other defendants’) post-election efforts to reverse the apparent result of the 2020 election, in Georgia and elsewhere. That Trump made such attempts is not disputed. The question is, what did he do that was illegal?

The indictment alleges a vast conspiracy, supported by 161 “overt acts,” that ultimately comprises Count I, a violation of Georgia’s RICO statute. The problem is that, with two exceptions, the “overt acts” are all legal. You can’t aggregate a series of legal acts and make them a crime by calling them a conspiracy.

[Read it all, as John’s not just a friend of mine but a very smart lawyer too. I tend to disagree with him about the fake-elector scheme as it actually unfolded in this case; the forgery counts come from documents they allegedly created to ‘certify’ themselves, which would be a crime, but YMMV. And I always like to get a broad range of informed perspectives too, as I’m sure our readers do. — Ed]