Trump, 18 others indicted in GA election conspiracy – National & International News – TUE 15Aug2023

Trump, 18 others indicted in GA election conspiracy.

Former Ole Miss, NFL player and subject of “Blind Side” sues guardians over adoption “lie”.

Group sues to demand US prevent chocolate companies from profiting off child slavery.

NATIONAL NEWS

Trump, 18 others indicted in GA election conspiracy

Late last night, Fulton County (GA) District Attorney Fani Willis announced that a grand jury had returned indictments against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants. The indictment comes under a Georgia state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute which (like the federal law it is modelled after) requires prosecutors to prove a conspiracy to commit wrongdoing. Georgia’s RICO law allows prosecutors to consider inciting or illegal actions committed in other states in furtherance of a crime in Georgia.

The indictment alleges that Trump led a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 Presidential election in an effort to hang on to the presidency despite his election loss. This conspiracy included a scheme to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors; attempts to cajole, intimidate or coerce Georgia state officials to commit illegal acts; and a plot to gain unauthorized access to ballots and voting machines in Coffee County, GA.

Trump and all the co-defendants have until Friday to surrender themselves to Fulton County authorities. Willis plans to try all 19 defendants together as she has in previous RICO cases. She told reporters she hopes the trial will take place within 6 months, but that will ultimately be up to the judge.

Trump’s co-defendants include:

• Rudy Giuliani, formerly mayor of New York City and personal attorney for Trump;
• Sydney Powell, another personal attorney of Trump’s who touted outlandish claims of election fraud;
• Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s White House Chief of Staff at the time;
• John Eastman, an attorney who falsely asserted that Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to certify the election results. According to the indictment, Eastman worked with Giuliani to pressure Georgia officials;
• Jeffrey Clark, a former low-level Justice Department attorney who was offered the position of Attorney General. In exchange, Clark agreed to use the power of the DOJ to pressure state legislators;
• Kenneth Chesebro, a Trump campaign attorney accused of helping to devise the fake electors plan

These people are believed to be the unnamed, unindicted co-conspirators in the federal case against Trump regarding the 2020 election. The other defendants are Trump campaign figures, Georgia state officials, and others alleged to have participated in the conspiracy. You can see more about all the co-defendants here.

Former Ole Miss, NFL player and subject of “Blind Side” sues guardians over adoption “lie”

Michael Oher is best known to many as the subject of the Oscar-winning 2009 film “The Blind Side”, starring Quinton Aaron as Oher and Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock as Oher’s guardians Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. Before a successful NFL career playing for the Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans and the Carolina Panthers, Oher played football at Ole Miss, the Tuohys’ alma mater, where he won various honors including unanimous All-American. 

Now, Oher has come forward in a lawsuit claiming that the heartwarming story of “Blind Side” was a lie. He says that he only learned the truth about 6 months ago. Oher claims that when he was a senior in high school, the Tuohys deceived him into believing they were adopting him when, in fact, they tricked him into signing a document making them his conservators.

Oher got nothing from “Blind Side”, suit says

The suit further claims that the Tuohy’s used the conservatorship to financially abuse him. Oher says the Tuoys used his story to earn a payment of $225,000 for the film and 2.5% of its net proceeds, which ultimately totaled over $300 million. According to the suit, Oher got no money from the film.

Oher, now 37 and retired from the NFL, wants the court to end the conservatorship. He is also seeking financial restitution from the Tuohys and to bar them from using his name or likeness.

The Tuohy’s have responded to the suit. Sean Tuohy said he was “devastated” by Oher’s accusation and said that he believed the conservatorship was necessary to enable Oher to play football at Ole Miss. Tuohy said that he would “of course” be willing to end the conservatorship if it was what Oher wanted. He also claimed that he and his family received “nothing” financially from the film. 

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Group sues to demand US prevent chocolate companies from profiting off child slavery

International Rights Advocates (IRA) is suing in a US federal court to demand the Biden administration bar US chocolate makers from importing cocoa harvested by child slaves in West Africa. It has been an open secret for years that US candy companies including Hershey, Mars, Nestle and Cargill source their cocoa from plantations in Ivory Coast and Ghana that use forced child labor. In fact, these companies once pledged to eliminate child labor from their supply chains by 2005. Now, they have moved that goal post to 2025.

There is an existing US law that requires the government to ban products created by child labor from entering the country. In 2019, the US commissioned a study by the University of Chicago which found 790,000 children working on Ivory Coast cocoa plantations. Researchers found a similar situation in Ghana. Terry Collingsworth of International Rights Advocates also found evidence of child labor in Ivory Coast on plantations that supply US companies, which he submitted to CBP. Despite the finding from the University of Chicago and Collingsworth’s evidence, CBP failed to act, according to the suit.

The children, some as young as 5, often come from other impoverished West African countries, such as Burkina Faso. Impoverished parents sell their children to brokers in exchange either for a one-time payment or a share of the child’s wages. 

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