Why Donald Trump's Paying Attention to Young Thug's Trial

Former President Donald Trump and his legal team are likely paying close attention to the recently-commenced RICO trial of Atlanta-based rapper Young Thug as he prepares for his own trial against the same prosecutor on similar charges.

Opening statements in Young Thug's trial began Monday as the rapper, whose given name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, seeks to argue that the charges being brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis are overblown and that his involvement in music and the entertainment industry is being unfairly targeted.

Williams, who is standing trial with five other defendants, is accused of being part of an organized crime group and using his music to promote it. Willis alleges that the rapper and Young Slime Life (YSL) violated Georgia's anti-racketeering and gang laws, among other things. He has pleaded not guilty.

Similarly, Trump is facing charges that include violating the state's Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). In August, Trump was indicted on 13 criminal counts in relation to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Peach State. He has denied any wrongdoing.

"Trump's lawyers will be paying close attention to the Young Thug trial," former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek, adding that some of the lawyers are defending both cases.

Because there will be overlap on the defense team, attorneys will be sure to watch what strategies Willis will be using in an effort to prepare for Trump's trial. Rahmani said Trump's lawyers will be on the lookout for how the prosecution tries to prove a corrupt organization under RICO and that they'll pay close attention to the role that co-defendants may play.

Trump was indicted along with 18 other co-defendants, including four who have already pleaded guilty.

"They'll want to know Willis' strategy for giving plea offers to cooperating co-defendants and how her office will handle their testimony during trial, particularly the argument that cooperators are lying to save themselves," Rahmani said.

"They'll also want to know how the prosecution, judge, and jury handles more than a dozen defendants and defense attorneys in a single trial. It's already been a slow, logistical nightmare in the YSL case, and I'd expect something similar if the remaining defendants in the election fraud case push their case to trial."

Former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe agreed, saying attorneys will be following to see what deals were made to secure testimony, if there are common themes in sentencing, and which impeachment angles are more effective with a jury.

McAuliffe also told Newsweek that Trump's defense team is also likely to watch how the prosecutors will handle the First Amendment issues being raised in the case.

Prosecutors in Williams' trial have taken the controversial step of using his rap lyrics as evidence against him, saying the songs "bore a very eerie significance" to real-life crimes. Legal filings show Trump already plans to mount a First Amendment defense in his Georgia trial by arguing that the false election fraud claims he made were protected as "core political speech" under the U.S. Constitution.

McAuliffe said Trump's attorneys will likely see how prosecutors handle similar arguments made by Williams' defense team, who told jurors Tuesday that the rapper is "not the head of a conspiracy. He's not in a conspiracy. They are lyrics."

"One of the advantages of RICO cases from a prosecutor's perspective is that noncriminal conduct––including song lyrics that might be protected speech in isolation––also can be acts to prove a RICO criminal enterprise," McAuliffe said.

"Both the Young Thug and Trump election cases involve First Amendment issues as shields and swords, depending on which side might be using the defendants' statements and for what purpose," he said.