By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
AUG. 18, 2023 | Two people with Gwinnett ties are among those listed in the sweeping indictments and racketeering charges released by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and its grand jury this week. The grand jury called it a “criminal enterprise” under the racketeering provision that former President Trump tried to engender to turn the election in his favor.
The two among the 19 charged include David Shafer, a Duluth attorney, and chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, and Republican Sen. Shawn Still of Johns Creek, who represents portions of north Fulton, south Forsyth and northwest Gwinnett in the 48th District. He came to office in 2023. When President Trump visited Georgia, Mr. Still was his driver. He is president of Olympic Pool Plastering and Shotcrete of Norcross.
While it seems like the investigation by the special purpose grand jury was taking forever to complete, when the case went to the regular grand jury on Monday, suddenly, in one day, the indictments came down. Boom! And President Trump experienced the fourth time he was indicted.
Still
Shafer
These are official legal proceedings, as were the other three indictments Mr. Trump is charged with. As such, Donald Trump will have his day in court(s) as our nation tries to get to the bottom of the last three years of shenanigans by Mr. Trump and his GOP cohorts.
Yet Donald Trump promised this week that an announcement that he is preparing that will be delivered next Monday would get to the bottom of the situation.
What is this? Does Mr. Trump believe that he can issue a statement on his own without anyone challenging him, and as such, everything will be hunky-dory? These charges will go away?
We’ve seen before the many ups-and-downs of Donald Trump’s thinking. He can’t seem to think straight. He feels like he can have his own way, no matter what.
But no, we’ll understand it all, says Mr. Trump, when he explains it to us on Monday. Sure we will.
The United States would be in far better shape today if one thing had happened in Donald Trump’s childhood: if his parents had disciplined him. But they did not, and he has always thought that he would bully through and get his own way.
And our nation suffers because of that. That speaks volumes about how parents today should be raising their children, lest we have other Donald Trumps in our future.
One of the more interesting developments this week was the publication of a column in The Washington Post by former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan about his testimony before the grand jury. We don’t know why the lieutenant governor did not seek re-election, but he seemed to be out of step with the support that the Trump wing of the GOP was showing. Read his column from The Post here.
Another nugget: Did you see this?
Yale history professor Timothy Snyder noted: “That Trump will be tried for his coup attempt is not a violation of his rights. It is a fulfillment of his rights. It is the grace of the American republic. In other systems, when your coup attempt fails, what follows is not a trial.
“While Trump has tried to whip up his supporters to fight for him, only a few turned out today to protest the proceedings, likely in part because the prosecutions of January 6 rioters have shown there are serious consequences for such actions.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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