Trump has already claimed these charges are part of an effort to criminalize political speech and a violation of his First Amendment rights — a regular political rallying cry for the former president.
The indictment identifies much of the conduct as constituting “overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy,” which means they don’t have to be crimes on their own — and are not being described as such in the indictment, said Morgan Cloud, the Charles Howard Candler professor of law at Emory University.
Overt acts “can be anything that is done that’s for the purpose of advancing the goals of the conspiracy,” Cloud said.
It’s an important distinction for the general public to understand in this case, Cloud noted.
TL;DR: RICO stuff is specifically designed to handle “will nobody rid me of this turbulent priest” situations, which is a tactic notoriously used by various organized crime entitles… as well as Trump and the companies he owns.