The biggest problem facing Donald Trump? His ‘mafia’ mouth

If his lawyers can’t keep him quiet, then Trump is in real trouble, writes Jon Sopel. And I know from years of covering his presidency for the BBC that nobody can restrain him for long…

If you’re keeping a running total, it now brings to 91 the criminal charges that Trump is facing from these four indictments (Getty)

When he was president, it was striking how often Donald Trump resorted to the language of the mob when he found himself in a tight spot. His former attorney, Michael Cohen, who cooperated with the government was a “rat” and a “flipper” for having squealed. But his campaign chief who refused to do a deal with prosecutors and went to prison for his troubles was lauded as a man who the feds couldn’t “break”.

So how ironic that Trump now finds himself on the wrong side of the very laws designed to break the mafia, the so-called Rico laws – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act. In other words, the charges in Georgia are that he was the head of a racketeering organisation. And the charges are eye-watering.

Forty-one counts of forgery and false statements; a few on impersonating public officers, influencing witnesses, a smattering of fraud charges, a bit of computer tampering – and perjury.

When I lived in Washington DC I felt I needed to have steel plates inserted in my mouth to stop my jaw from dropping, such was the wildness of covering the Trump presidency – but it did again today when these charges dropped late last night in Atlanta (the midnight pain from Georgia, anyone?).

If you’re keeping a running total, it now brings to 91 the criminal charges that Trump is facing from these four indictments – that’s 91 more than the combined total of all previous incumbents of the White House.

And arguably what’s unfolded in Georgia is the most serious of all the indictments – for two reasons.

The fact that Trump has been charged as being the head of a criminal organisation in his bid to overturn the election means it’s not just him who is facing charges; there are 18 other co-conspirators. One or two of them are extremely well known: Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer and former mayor of New York has been charged. Ditto Mark Meadows, Trump’s last White House chief of staff.

But there are a lot of people lower down the food chain – the grunts – who’ve been ensnared – and they will have every interest in cutting a deal with prosecutors to minimise their own exposure. Yes, flippers. Let’s stick with the argot of The Sopranos – the prosecutors want to cut off the head of the serpent – and you do that by going after the weaker links in the chain.

The other reason that Georgia presents such a threat is that these are state charges, not federal charges. Why is that important? Well, let’s imagine for a moment that Trump wins the Republican nomination (he is still the runaway favourite to do so) and then wins the general election (very far from impossible in a two-horse race where your opponent is going to be 82 years old). If he is back in the Oval Office, then he can – theoretically – pardon himself from federal crimes – ie crimes brought by the Justice Department. But when the charges come from one of the 50 states of the USA, the president has no power.

And that goes back to the first reason he should be worried. If he can’t say to the 18 others who’ve been charged “don’t be a dirty rat, stay solid and I’ll pardon you if I win in 2024” then they might just decide their best option is to cut a deal at Trump’s expense with the district attorney in Fulton County.

There is one other area of jeopardy for Trump. And that, to be blunt, is his mouth. After he was indicted in Washington he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that “if you come after me, I’ll come after you.” He has been warned in explicit terms that if he threatens anyone involved in the justice system, or discloses confidential information, his bail could be revoked. His lawyers will have to keep him on a tight leash. And I have never seen anyone be able to restrain him for this long.

There are complaints aplenty from supporters – and even from some who are critical of the former president – about timing: why are all these indictments coming now – so long after the event, and just as Trump is gearing up for another tilt at the presidency. Others raise a red flag that this is all a politically motivated witch-hunt, while others go in for a big dollop of whataboutism: why is the Justice Department going after the former president with such alacrity, and not going after the president’s son, Hunter Biden, when his behaviour too deserves proper scrutiny.

All of these points have varying degrees of merit. But look at them carefully: no one is trying to argue that Trump is an innocent man in all this – although of course the 45th president maintains he has done nothing wrong.

Giuliani – has any reputation gone through such a vertiginous fall, thanks to his close association with Trump? – has complained that the charges against him and his co-conspirators are an affront to democracy. No Rudy, the affront to democracy was the concerted attempt to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election.

Jon Sopel is the presenter with Emily Maitlis of the podcast, The News Agents USA, and was the BBC North America Editor