Tipsheet

Why Isn't 'Stolen Election' Conspirator Stacey Abrams Behind Bars?

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  August 15, 2023 3:30 PM

If anything, the fourth indictment against former President Donald Trump proves that a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich.

What would normally be protected under the Constitution, such as questioning election results, requesting phone numbers, and encouraging voters to watch TV, is now considered conspiratorial. The laundry list of indictment-worthy actions leveled against Trump and his allies leads to the pertinent question: If claiming an election is stolen makes you a criminal in Georgia, why isn't Democrat election-denier Stacey Abrams, a two-time gubernatorial sore-loser who repeatedly refused to concede, in prison?

She's certainly no Georgia peach. In 2018, Abrams lost the governor's race to then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Due to losing by less than 1.4 percentage points, a narrow margin of defeat, Abram refused to recognize Kemp as the legitimate winner, claiming in sitdown televised interviews that the election was "tainted." On "State of the Union," Abrams told CNN anchor Jake Tapper that she thought there was "deliberate" and "intentional" interference in the election, beginning with the "systematic disenfranchisement" of voters that led to the so-called "destruction of the administration of elections in the state of Georgia."

Following her failure, the Abrams campaign waged a week of post-election legal warfare, hellbent on finding enough votes to lessen Kemp's lead and force a runoff. In a non-concession speech officially ending her bid for governor and bleating about "incompetence" in the electoral process, Abrams declared that "democracy failed" as she announced plans to file a federal lawsuit against Georgia for "the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions." (Like Abrams, the suit failed. A judge found that Georgia's election practices did not "suppress black voters.")

Though she acknowledged Kemp as governor, Abrams insisted it was not a formal concession. "So, let's be clear—this is not a speech of concession because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true, or proper," Abrams said. "As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But, my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy..."

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Abrams coined the "Big Lie." But, instead of being punished, Abrams was propped up by the Democrat Party as the poster child for "fair elections" advocacy, and the mainstream media showered her with raving reviews, even suggesting that the stolen-election conspiracy theorist would be "extremely qualified" for the vice presidency ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Emboldened by the golden-girl treatment, Abrams ran and lost, again, against Kemp in 2022. However, the losing streak didn't stop Abrams from profiting off of her fraudulent-and-rigged elections schtick, a lucrative beat that made her a multi-millionaire to the tune of $3.17 million. Disclosure filings from her second Peach State gubernatorial campaign reportedly revealed that between election cycles, her election-fraud book tour and speech appearances rewarded her fame and fortune.

Trump's efforts to overturn the election in Georgia are not unprecedented. Abrams set a precedent. She wrote the stolen-elections playbook: Don't bend the knee. Cry foul. Point out voting irregularities. File lawsuits. Fundraise. For years, the Abrams-founded and -funded Fair Fight Action, which publicly claimed that "unsecure," "hackable," and "unreliable" voting machines "erased 100,000 votes in '18," has been pushing conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud in Republican-led Georgia. 

As a result, Abrams moved up tax brackets and ascended the political ladder. Trump, instead, was handed 13 felony charges.

What did Trump and Co. do? In the 98-page indictment, the Democrat DA's office in Fulton County cites activities like encouraging voters on Twitter to tune into televised broadcasts, soliciting contact information, and reserving rooms.

For instance, Trump's last White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, sent a text message to Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and asked if he could forward the phone number for the speaker and the leader of the state's legislature. "POTUS wants to chat with them," Meadows texted. "This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy," the indictment alleges.

Act 22 charged Trump with conspiracy for prompting supporters to watch hearings broadcasted on One America News Network. "Georgia hearings now on @OANN. Amazing!" Trump tweeted. Act 100 and Act 101, likewise, listed Trump's tweets that egged on Americans to "check out" Newsmax and watch Right Side Broadcasting Network's live stream as "overt" acts of conspiracy.

Co-defendant David Shafer was indicted for reserving a room at the Georgia state Capitol for a meeting of Trump presidential elector nominees. The prosecutor said the room reservation was "an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy."