VOA慢速英语2023--Trump Charged with Efforts to Overturn Election in Georgia

Trump¹ Charged with Efforts to Overturn Election in Georgia

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and 18 others have been indicted³ over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the American state of Georgia.

The indictment⁴ is the fourth set of criminal charges against Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination⁵ in 2024.

Georgia's state government lawyers accuse Trump, his former lawyers and other aides of a "criminal enterprise" to keep him in power. The legal case uses a law, known as the RICO Act, which is often used to target members of organized crime groups. The indictment contains 41 charges.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told reporters late Monday night: "Rather than abide⁶ by Georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants⁷ engaged in a criminal, racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result."

The indictment against Trump is a 98-page document. It lists several actions that Georgia government lawyers say Trump, or his allies took to undo⁸ the election result. They include a phone call in which Trump reportedly asked a state official to "find" 11,780 votes, harassing¹⁰ election workers, trying to create false electoral college electors, and stealing data from a voting machine.

Trump attacked Willis and called the indictment a "witch hunt" in a social media post overnight. He added, "Why didn't they Indict² 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign."

The indictment comes just two weeks after a federal grand jury charged Trump with crimes connected to the 2020 presidential election. The federal indictment said Trump tried and failed to use federal and state officials to overturn the election. It said he blocked the counting of electoral votes certifying¹² President Joe Biden's victory on January 6, 2021, as supporters attacked the Capitol building and police where the process was taking place.

Other legal actions against Trump

Trump has been surrounded by legal troubles since leaving office two years ago.

In June, Trump was charged with illegally holding classified national security documents, obstruction¹³, making false statements, and plotting with others to carry out a crime. A trial has been set for May 2024.

The office of the Manhattan District Attorney in the state of New York charged Trump with criminally falsifying "business records to conceal¹⁴ crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election." That trial is set for next March.

The office of the New York State Attorney General charged Trump and his business, the Trump Organization, with misleading banks and tax officials to get loans and tax benefits. A trial will start in state court in October. Additionally, Trump's company was fined $1.6 million after being found guilty of tax fraud in another New York court in December.

Last May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in a civil case. Carroll has brought a second legal case seeking $10 million which is planned for January.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in all cases.

Words in This Story

indict –v. (legal) to officially bring written charges against a person in a court of law

enterprise –n. an activity or business that usually involves risk

abide –v. to accept

racketeering –n. The crime of making money by threatening people or selling worthless, immoral¹⁵ or illegal products or services

harass⁹ –v. to repeatedly bother or cause problems for someone over a period of time

certify¹¹ –v. to officially state that a requirement has been reached for something to be approved or declared

obstruction –n. (legal) to prevent the police from learning the truth about something

fraud –n. the crime of dishonestly taking something of value from another person

 

defame –v. to hurt the opinion that people have of a person by saying things that are not true about that person

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。

3 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

4 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

5 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

6 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

7 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

8 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

9 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

10 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

11 certify   

vt.证明，证实；发证书(或执照)给

参考例句：

• I can certify to his good character.我可以证明他品德好。
• This swimming certificate is to certify that I can swim one hundred meters.这张游泳证是用以证明我可以游100米远。

12 certifying   

（尤指书面）证明( certify的现在分词 )； 发证书给…； 证明（某人）患有精神病； 颁发（或授予）专业合格证书

参考例句：

• Signed Commercial in quintuplicate, certifying merchandise to be of Chinese origin. 签署商业发票一式五份，证明产品的原产地为中国。
• Other documents certifying the truthfulness of the contents of the advertisements. （三）确认广告内容真实性的其他证明文件。

13 obstruction   

n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物

参考例句：

• She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
• The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。

14 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

15 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。