While much of the national focus around former President Donald Trump’s legal woes has been centered around this week’s four-count federal indictment over charges related to his alleged involvement in attempting to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, officials in Georgia are focusing on another indictment that is likely to be handed down in their state in the near future.
This week, Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney of Fulton County in Georgia, said that the local sheriff was “doing something smart” by installing various security barriers in anticipation of her charging decision being revealed soon.
She told a local news reporter this week:
“Some people may not be happy with the decisions that I’m making, and sometimes, when people are unhappy, they act in a way that could create harm.
“I think the sheriff is doing something smart in making sure that the courthouse stays safe. I’m not willing to put any of the employees or the constituents that come to the courthouse in harm’s way.”
While nothing has been formally announced yet, it’s widely expected that Willis will seek a grand jury indictment over her investigation into how Trump and some of his GOP allies tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
For more than two years, the district attorney has been investigating whether the former president violated any state laws in trying to get involved in the certification of the election results.
A major focus of that investigation is a phone call that Trump made in January of 2021 to Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state. In that call, Trump was recorded as asking Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes that he needed to overturn the win for President Joe Biden in Georgia.
Willis’ investigation has also delved into other phone calls that were made to officials throughout the state of Georgia, as well as fake GOP electors, multiple claims that election fraud happened even though there was no proof, and alleged efforts that were made to pressure two different election workers.
The district attorney affirmed this week that her intention is to announce her charging decision by September 1.
The anticipation of that announcement has been coming for a few months now. Back in May, Willis requested that Fulton County’s judges clear their schedule of all in-person hearings and trials for the first two full weeks of August.
That letter had indicated to many people that she was planning to bring formal charges against Trump as a result of her investigation.
Two different grand juries were sworn in earlier in July, and one of those is expected to be presented with the Trump case.
On two different occasions, Trump has attempted to put a stop to the investigation in Georgia. Both of those attempts were ultimately denied, though, which means that Willis can move forward with criminal charges if she so wishes.
If he were to be indicted in Georgia, it would mark the fourth separate criminal indictment to be handed down against Trump this year.
