♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy d peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".

votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. >> the defendants engage in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn georgia's presidential election results. >> can donald trump successfully run for president if he is fighting four court cases at the same time? >> he is used to fighting, he's been fighting for years. i think you'll have no problem --e will have no problem. >> good evening. thank you for joining us. former president donald trump hits back at prosecutors after being accused of headingp a criminal enterprise to try and overturn the results of the 2020 20 election in georgia. we will have all the reaction and analysis of the next half hour. also coming up, three people suspected of spying for russia in the u.k. have been arrested

and charged in a major national security investigation. the defendants, all bulgarian nationals, had been living in britain for several years, but it was alleged they were working for the russian security services. u.k. wages rise but economist warned it is not all good news, as it could force interest rates to rise again. two years since the taliban returned to power in afghanistan, there is severe hunger and a near collapse on the health system. we have a special report. first, former president donald trump says he will release his own apart -- report on what he calls election fraud in georgia, after prosecutors in the state of georgia charged trump and 18 others with trying to overturn the election defeat there. the former president is facing 13 new charges including racketeering and conspiracy. racketeering is an organized crime where a person profits through dishonest or illegal activities. this is his fourth criminal indictment.

he now faces in total 9charges with allegations of election interference, hush money paid to a point star, and mishandling classified documents. mr. trump has denied wrongdoing in all of his criminal cases. because the latest chart as witch hunt. he hopes to win the u.s. presidency again next year and is currently the front runner for the republican party's nomination. >> the courthouse in downtown atlanta where donald trump and his allies will be tried for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, charges usually brought against mobsters, that carry a minimum five years in jail. he has successfully made all the charges against him a part of his campaign to be reelected president, claiming as usual, this is a witch hunt against him, accusing the prosecutor of political motives. >> i make decisions in this office based on the facts in the law. the law is completely nonpartisan.

that is how decisions are made in every case. >> the 13 charges against donald trump include racketeering, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiracy to commit forgery, and conspiring to file false documents. his legal advisor john easement and personal lawyer rudy giuliani are among the 18 others charged in the criminal enterprise. >> frankly, we did win this election. >> as he refused to accept defeat, trump and his allies focused on georgia, claiming incorrectly that thousands of fraudulent ballots were counted for joe biden. calling georgia's senior election official, asking him to find enough votes to tip estate his way. >> look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.

>> the trump team's lies, like the ccp footage showing suitcases full of fake mozart being treated as crimes. officials have been expecti these charges and have been watching the pressure increase each time he gets arrested. >> can donald trump successfully run for president if he is putting four cases at the same time? >> he has been fighting for years, so i think he will have no problem. >> republicans don't risk losing the election if they pick him as a candidate? >> i don't think so. the more that goes on, people are seeing what he is saying, that it is a twotiered justice system and it is being used against we the people now. >> donald trump cannot stop campaigning but he will also need to defend himself in court. he says he will release next week a detailed report that he says will backup his lies about election fraud in georgia.

>> let's go to washington with our correspondent. good to see you. we have seen the former president hitting back at this latest indictment. he's been saying he will release his own apart on alleged election fraud. tell us more about how he is responding. >> pretty inclement weather in the american capital today, reflective of the political mood. donald trump is certainly angry. in a series of messages on the truth social platform, he says in capitals, nothing like this has happened before, our country cannot let this stand. and as you said, promises to release next week a large complex of what he calls irrefutable reports into presidential election fraud in georgia, that he says would lead to a complete exoneration of the charges against him. to be honest, we don't expect anything new from donald trump,

perhaps just a rehash of the old allegations he made, still maintaining he didn't lose the election and the election in georgia itself. in the next nine days, between now and friday, he has to present himself and surrendered to authorities in georgia. those charges against him will be formally read out to him. the prosecutor there has also said she wants a trial to take place within the next six months. the significance of that, that would be right in the middle of a presidential election campaign. donald trump has made it clear that he plans to stand again for the presidency. as it stands, he is leading republican polls notwithstanding all of these serious charges against him. >> how does this latest indictment stack up to the other indictments the former president is facing? >> as you say, this is the fourth terminal case against the former president.

most of those are federal cases. these charges in georgia are state charges. the significance of those in particular is that will be heard under georgia state law. even if donald trump is elected again as president, he will not be able to overturn, to pardon himself if convicted in the cases. he would theoretically be able to do that if he was found guilty in the federal cases, but the difficulty for mr. trump is, if the case happens in georgia and is found guilty before reelection, he would not be able to pardon himself of those convictions, were he to become president of the u.s. again. >> thank you very much for the update. we will be back with more analysis on the trump story in a moment. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories making news.

a children's charity wants tech companies and mps to back the government's online safety bill because of new research that shows the scale of online grooming. the nspcc says 42 offices recorded more than 6000 offenses including sexual communications with children last year. a moment of silence for families and victims of the omagh bomb has been held to mark the 25th anniversary of the attack. 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins were killed by the bomb planted by the real ira in 1998. prayers were said at the scene marking the street. the government announced 250 million pounds to be spent on an extra -- beds this winter. one of five priority set out by the prime minister rishi sunak.

you are watching bbc news. let's return to the fourth indictment of the former president donald trump. this indictment itself is 98 pages long and includes the 41 counts faced by mr. trump and 18 others. mr. trump himself is facing 13 of those 41 charges including forgery and racketeering. the document also contains evidence, such as mr. trump's tweets, and details to an infamous phone call to the georgia secretary of state asking him to find votes to overturn the election. the 18 others indicted include people close to mr. trump in 2020. among them former lawyer rudy giuliani, seen on the left, with chief of staff mark meadows on the right. also former lawyer john eastman and a former justice department official, jeffrey clark, who you also see on the right. let's discuss all of this with my panel now, a former federal

prosecutor, law professor at the university of minnesota, and the former communications director of the republican national committee. gentlemen, great to see all of you. what we saw in this georgia indictment is fanni willis saying the former president was at the helm of a criminal syndicate essentially. she said this indictment tells the whole story. do you think it is a convincing indictment? >> it is an ambitious set of charges . they could've gone with a conspiracy charge but instead used the racketeering statute, which by my understanding in georgia, is more broad than at the federal level. and the fact that they are charging 19 people including several attorneys. that is aggressive. many prosecutors try to avoid charging lawyers because we typically get the protection that we are giving legal advice. here, the position is that those

lawyers were a part of the criminal conspiracy. i would say this is a very, very aggressive prosecution, set up charges. as your correspondent pointed out, this is not something that the current or future president can stop in its tracks. this will continue on, regardless of what happens to candidate or possibly future president trump. >> richard, what do you make of this indictment? >> it is interesting that the lawyers were charged. i think it is about time. we have seen this problem for decades in the united states where lawyers are assisting clients with crime, whether it is corporate crime or here, political crime, trying to steal an election. lawyers counseling their clients to commit crimes, assisting their clients to commit crimes and then pulling back and saying i was just a zealous advocate. that is not true.

a lot of lawyers have been getting away with it for far too long. we shouldn't lose sight of the fact thateorgia is one of the few jurisdictions that's been willing to confront the bar and indict lawyers as well as the former president of the u.s. that is very much called for. if lawyers were more responsible, felt they were responsible for their client conduct, we wouldn't have as many of these instances, whether it's election fraud or corporate fraud, financial fraud. >> doug, how signifint is it that members of the very inner circle of the former president's team have also been indicted? >> it is very significant. it tells us the trial, where all eyes will be on donald trump, we may want to have eyes on these other potential witnesses as well. what do they testify about what donald trump did, when did he know it, and so forth, and also what revelation they may have as

to whether they are testifying or potentially copping a plea deal. somebody like mark meadows, who was intimately involved in every activity the president was making, will be somebody who could potentially flip on donald trump, whether on the stand or in his own way of cutting a plea deal. it makes those witnesses much more interesting, those defendants more interesting than they otherwise would be. all eyes will be on donald trump. this makes it more interesting to the other cast of characters. >> joe, is that the reason we would see prosecutors indict 19 people here, so they might possibly defect and offer information on the former president? >> you have 19 people with 19 different legal strategies. some may lawyer up and just fight. others may flip. others may take some convincing and maybe not flip soon but take a while, but eventually cooperate. this is different from a federal case where there are a number of

unindicted co-conspirators. this is a step further, going into 19 different people. i know everyone is talking about a speedy trial, but keep in mind, not only is this georgia case fourth in line, but the fact that there are 19 defendants means it will take that much longer to get a trial set up. it is aggressive but it does not mean that it will be quick. >> that brings up the timeline of what we will be seeing next ar. it is a very busy legal schedule. trump will appear in court in october when the new york attorney civil fraud trial begins. then on january 15, his second defamation trial brought by e. jean carroll is set to open. later that month, trump, his company, and three of his children will face a trial, accused of luring people to sham business opportunities. in march, the criminal case, the hush-money payments to stormy daniels will begin.

finally, the classified documents trial is set to start. 169 days out from the elections in the u.s. that is before you add in the dates for the january 6 documents trial or this latest trial in georgia. how do you see the trump team strategy? they must want to delay any further trials in order to handle that. >> they want to delay these trials as long as possible so donald trump can secure the republican nomination for president and then have a shot at becoming president. once he is president, the federal criminal cases he would sit to have dismissed. the president controls the justice department. the president could just turn around and fire jack smith as special prosecutor. i believe doing so would be a crime of obstruction of justice, but that wouldn't stop him from doing it if he became president. it is really a race against the clock.

a number of those cases you mentioned are civil cases. defamation, financial fraud civil trials to accommodate the criminal trial schedule. the criminal cases, though, should be resolved as quickly as possible. we have a right to a speedy trial in the united states for criminal defendants, but also the prosecution, the government has the right to request a speedy trial. joining a bunch of other lawyers filing an amicus brief supporting the justice department's request for a speedy trial on the federal indictment on donald trump. i believe a number of these cases should be resolveable before the election. the georgia case, as we pointed out, is more complex, because of the number of different defendants. >> another central strategy that appears we will see from the former president's team is the first amendment defense, that

this is his right to free speech. we could see that with the co-defendants as well. how convincing is that argument in this case? >> so much of donald trump depends on the audience. if you are a trump supporter, that is one of the first places they go to defend him. you are limiting what a presidential candidate can and cannot say. if you are a skeptic, you will think differently on this. trump, as we have seen him do often, is beholden to his base and also hopes to activate his base. he doesn't really go after moderate or independent voters. this whole process, while very legally oriented for trump, facing serious jail time, is also happening in a very political context. he is trying to maximize the politics of this, to benefit him more than anyone else. i would caution those who are indicted with donald trump on this, loyalty is a one-way street with donald trump.

so often we see people trying to score points with donald trump, but he doesn't give points, he only takes them away one at a time. that could certainly happen in this trial. anyone indicted with donald trump could be thrown under the bus at any moment and anything that could benefit him politically or legally. >> certainly makes it difficult to line up all of these codependent's cases. coming back to this question around timing. in the very near future, we will see, fanni willis want to see all of the co-defendants arraigned by next week. how does the arraignment process work when you have this many co-defendants? >> we have seen it happen on one of cases in the last few months. with that many people, you'll have quite a spectacle. i don't know if cameras will be on at merriment. i have heard different things about georgia courts. but you will see a lot of people walking up to the courthouse.

it will be a full few days of 19 people showing up to be arraigned. keep in mind, it is pretty quick. for people that expect a big spectacle, there is not a whole lot that we will see. then we will have a big lag as these 19 different defendants figure out how they plan to defend themselves against these charges. >> interesting to note, and this arraignment, we expect to see a mug of the former president, something we have not seen in the previous arraignment. we mention the former president is trying to get ahead of this process, says that he will release his own report next week on what he calls interference into the election of georgia. could he be in contempt of court? >> am sure it will be more of the same old, same old. donald trump talking about election fraud even before the election, and much more so after the election, and came up with

zilch in terms of evidence of election fraud. he went to multiple state and federal courts, filed dozens of lawsuits throughout the united states after the election in 2020. these claims of election fraud were rejected every single time. georgia is no exception. he doesn't have evidence of election fraud in georgia. if he had it, he would have already produced it. he hasn't. i don't think it will get him anywhere here. it will be more of the same old lies. you can always cook up the argument that there was election fraud based on whatever theory you have got. at the end of the day, you have to be able to prove it. there is simply no evidence there. >> i want to come to the republicans in georgia right now. it is really interesting to see the governor, brian kemp, secretary of state brad raffensperger, both hitting back at the former president. we have a tweet from the

governor brian kemp, saying the 2020 in georgia was not stolen. anyone with evidenc of fraud has failed to come forward for three years under oath and failed to prove anything under the court of law. our elections are secure and will continue to be as far as i'm future of governor. our future is at stake in 2024 d that must be our focus. until now, it seems to be the equation that anyone who goes against the former president suffers particularly in the polls, but that hasn't not been the case in georgia. how do you explain this? >> brian kemp is very popular with republican voters in the state, has been for a long time, is seen as a very conservative republican governor in an otherwise very conservative state. also what he is saying here is pretty clear, as is the secretary of state. if they did not defy truck, they would have to say donald trump is right. in other words, we cannot

administer our own elections, which would be untenable. if they said donald trump is right, that means they were incompetent, but they are not. ultimately, republicans in georgia are paying the price for donald trump's rhetoric. three times now, twice in the runoffs, recently with herschel walker, what we have seen is donald trump's rhetoric has held republicans back in georgia, have sunk three different senate campaigns. moving forward in 2024, if you are brian kemp, you don't want that to happen again, and that is why you are holding the line. it is advantageous for them in a paradoxical way. as you said, other republicans have been penalized. but to go along with donald trump here would be admitting your own and competence, where it does not exist. >> i you are looking ahead to the possibility of a trial, what would you be looking for in terms of what prosecutors may

present in terms of evidence, witness testimony and so on? >> which one? if it the georgia trial, i'm fascinated by what the co-defendants said. as we pointed out, we lawyers are to be not held accountable. it is probably good that they were a part of this conspiracy, so i'm fascinated to hear the evidence regarding rudy giuliani or the other attorneys that were charged here. as an attorney myself, i'm fascinated to see them actually being held accountable. >> richard, how about you? >> i certainly think it's about time that the attorneys are held accountable. a lot of this could not have been done without the assistance of attorneys. they simply cannot turn around and say that is donald trump's doing. donald trump himself is accountable r his actions and cannot hide behind his attorneys.

we should expect a certain amount of back-and-forth there were donald trump would say, i thought what i was doing was legal. look at all of these lawyers going along with me in doing it. it is very clear, first, that there is zero evidence of election fraud. it is just made up, alternative facts. anyone who believes objective truth understands that. regardless of what his attorneys were saying, donald trump had an obligation to comply with the law, at least not to commit knowing crimes. this will be an interesting trial when it occurs. it will take some time because of the number of defendants, and then the back-and-forth as to who is to blame, when this is all said and done. >> we do have a republican candidate debate next week. does donald trump show up for that as he is now facing four indictments? >> most likely not.

politically that would be the smart thing to do. you don't want to give your opponents the oxygen to attack you. if he is there, there will be more opportunity for those people running against him who have thus far been very hesitant to criticize trump to maybe take him on directly. >> we will wait to see what decision he reaches there but he has set up till now that he is not sure that it serves him politically. maybe that is the point that we will come to next week, to find out if he decides, if this team decides. to all of you, thank you very much for your insights. great to talk to you tonight. thank you for watching "the context." we will be back in a few minutes with some more news. stay with us.

narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglted needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".