ATLANTA ( Associated Press) – A Georgia state prosecutor has indicated that charges may be filed as part of a voter sabotage investigation that began two years ago. While Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis did not name Donald Trump or his associates, it is the first time a prosecutor in one of several ongoing investigations involving the former Republican president has indicated charges may be filed.
In an attempt to block the release of a special grand jury report, Willis argued in court last week that verdicts in the case were “imminent” and that release of the report could jeopardize the rights of “future defendants.”
The Democratic prosecutor’s remarks sparked speculation that an investigation focused on Trump’s call to Georgia’s secretary of state could lead to an ongoing federal investigation.
“I expect to see indictments in Fulton County before we see federal indictments,” said Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University.
In addition to the Georgia probe, a Justice Department special counsel is probing Trump for his role in working with allies to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election and for alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The most pressing legal risk for Trump is the investigation he is facing after classified material was discovered at his Florida residence. But the matter looks complicated, at least politically, as classified files were also found at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and his office in Washington. The Justice Department appointed special prosecutors to investigate both cases.
Willis launched the investigation after the January 2, 2021 release of a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In that conversation, the then-president suggested Raffensperger, a Republican, “find” the votes needed to overturn Trump’s narrow electoral loss to Biden, a Democrat, in the state.
“That’s all I want to do: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said on the call.
Since then, the scope of the investigation has expanded to include, among other things: a list of bogus Republican voters, phone calls by Trump and others to Georgia officials in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, and unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud. Blame.
In an interview, Trump insisted that he did “absolutely nothing wrong” and that his phone call with Raffensperger was “absolutely perfect”. He said he was “very confident” that he would not be charged.
