Trump Election Fraud Investigation In Georgia Ramps Up

Georgia’s criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump‘s attempts to overturn the 2020 election is set to move forward this week.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked Georgia state officials to preserve documents relevant to election interference in February. She investigated potential state crimes, including solicitation of election fraud, conspiracy and racketeering.

“What I was doing, as a courtesy to people that I respect very much, is simply putting them on notice that when a grand jury convened, which would be in March, that they could expect to receive subpoenas,” Willis said.

Two grand juries are set to convene in Fulton County on Thursday and are likely to rely heavily on subpoenas rather than voluntary requests for records and interviews. Some Georgian officials have already hired personal attorneys during the fallout from Trump’s efforts to reverse the election results.

Willis’ investigation stemmed from Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” him enough votes to win the state. She is also investigating a phone call between Trump loyalist Sen. Lindsey Graham and Brad Raffensperger, Buyung “BJay” Pak, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and the false allegations of election fraud Rudy Giuliani made before Georgia legislators.

“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country and angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump said in the call with Raffesnperger.

After Trump pushed Raffensperger multiple times to “find” votes to reverse his loss, the Secretary of State responded, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”

Willis plans to dig deep into the details surrounding the call, regardless of if Trump’s team attempts to shield the former president from investigative inquiries.

Bret Williams, a former prosecutor of the Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s office, said the most serious crime that Trump is facing in Georgia is criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, a felony.

“He might say, his lawyers might say, ‘No, no, no. He’s calling to complain. He’s kvetching. He’s saying I got cheated,’ “Williams said. Trump’s defense could be, “I’m not calling him to ask him to cheat for, I’m calling him to ask him to undo the cheating,” Williams said.

Willis has also said she will look at Pak’s surprise departure from his post as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia in January. His departure stemmed from Trump referring to Pak as a “never-Trumper” in the call with Raffensperger.

“I’m in no rush,” she said. “I think people think that I feel this immense pressure. I don’t.”