Donald Trump’s racketeering indictment is the most sweeping yet

ON January 4th 2021, just a fortnight before Joe Biden’s inauguration, Fani Willis started her new gig as chief prosecutor in Fulton County, the seat of Atlanta, Georgia, and several adjoining suburbs. The night before, a tape had been released of Donald Trump begging Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes”—the exact number needed to overturn the swing state’s November 2020 election results in his favour.

Though she later admitted to praying that Mr Raffensperger had been outside the county when he took the now-infamous phone call, Ms Willis has come to embrace her role of top cop on Georgia’s biggest case. On August 14th, after a two-and-a-half-year investigation, she unveiled an indictment accusing Mr Trump and 18 of his acolytes of orchestrating a plan to reverse the election in the state. As the sun set over the downtown courthouse a grand jury swiftly indicted them.