Experts weigh in on latest Trump indictment

SAN FRANCISCO - With the latest round of 13 indictments out of Georgia. Donald Trump is now facing a total of 91 criminal charges.

Experts say this case out of Fulton County Georgia poses a unique threat to Trump, and while it's headline making news, it may only make small ripples in the political landscape. 

In a nearly 100-page indictment, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis detailed dozens of acts by former President Trump and 18 of his allies she says were aimed to undo the will of Georgia voters.

The former president has faced three previous indictments, one out of New York for alleged hush money payments, and two federal indictments related to keeping top secret documents and charges surrounding January 6th.

Professor Andrew Lah at University of San Francisco has served as both a federal defender and San Francisco prosecutor. He says this latest case may pose the most serious risk to the former president. 

"The narrative around the federal indictment is that if Trump wins the election, he'll pardon himself," said Lah. "There are all sorts of arguments about that. But that's something that's very much out there. It's different with respect to the states. In Georgia, you can't pardon yourself."

Beyond the legal jeopardy, there are many questions about how all of this will play out over the course of the upcoming Republican primary and general elections.

Professor Shawn Rosenberg studies political psychology and the rise of populism at the University of California Irvine. 

He says for Trump supporters, this latest indictment will only strengthen their resolve. Rosenberg says Trump supporters want a strong leader, unencumbered by the usual checks on the executive branch.  For them he says "the purpose of politics is to get things done for the people and to that end there should be no constraints placed on the judgment or action of leaders who are acting on behalf of the people," said Rosenberg.

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Rosenberg says Democrats will likely be energized by the indictments as well, seeing them as confirmation of their worst fears about what the former president could do if re-elected. But, he says, the biggest impact could be with independent voters who he says are more likely to see the legal system as operating more or less impartially. "Because they are likely to see the judicial process as operating more or less impartially as it is supposed to and therefore the fact of these indictments and certainly any convictions would negatively impact their attitude toward trump," said Rosenberg.

As for the critical issue of the timeline of these issues; our legal expert says the former president will likely try to delay the federal cases for as long as possible hoping he wins and can make them disappear. 

Fulton County's district attorney wants to start her trial in the next six months, our legal experts says expect the same strategy out of former President Trump to delaying as long as possible with this latest case out of Georgia as well. 

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