Georgia D.A.’s Letter Suggests She Could Indict Trump as Early as August
The district attorney asked a chief judge to make security preparations for late July and early August. This has led to speculation she’s preparing for the rowdy demonstrations that would accompany a Trump indictment.
A new letter from prosecutor Fani Willis could point to a potential indictment of President Trump in late summer. The two-year investigation stems from a litany of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the Peachtree State, including a call the former president made to the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger.
The widely expected indictment would be Mr. Trump’s second, following his indictment by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, for covering up a payment to a porn star.
Ms. Willis has asked the chief judge of Fulton County — which is home to more than 90 percent of the city of Atlanta — for an unusual trial schedule and informed him of some remote work changes for the month of August.
In a letter sent Thursday to Chief Judge Ural Glanville, Ms. Willis asked that county judges not schedule any trials or in-person hearings between August 7 and August 18. She also informed the judge that 70 percent of her staff will be working remotely on a number of days between July 31 and August 18.
The letter ends with Ms. Willis thanking the chief judge for his “consideration and assistance in keeping the Fulton County Judicial Complex safe during this time.”
The plea to keep the court safe could suggest the potential for protests or even violence in the wake of an indictment being released against Mr. Trump. As he was being booked in a Manhattan courthouse for allegedly paying hush money to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, during the 2016 campaign, there was a protest nearby that was headlined by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The president of the New York Young Republican Club, Gavin Wax, who led the Manhattan protest, tells the Sun that “institutional forces” are descending on the former president because he “poses the biggest threat to the system of any presidential candidate.”
“The latest news about a possible indictment in Georgia against President Trump serves only to further to cement that point,” Mr. Wax said in a message. “Supporters of President Trump should show up en masse to protest this gross abuse of our justice system” should he be indicted.
Despite the potential legal woes, Mr. Trump could benefit politically from being charged. Following the Manhattan indictment, the former president saw a bump in his polling against Governor DeSantis, who would be Mr. Trump’s top opponent were he to enter the contest for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Mr. Wax, who is supporting Mr. Trump, said another indictment would likely lead to more Republicans moving to support the former president.
“There indictments will only catalyze support for the president further,” Mr. Wax wrote. “This primary is over.”
Mr. Trump has previously called for mass protests in the wake of mounting legal challenges and potential indictments. After announcing his imminent arrest in March, the former president took to social media to demand demonstrations in the streets as a show of support.
“IT’S TIME!!!” he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “WE JUST CAN’T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE. THEY’RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”
Mr. Trump could face charges of conspiracy to commit election fraud and criminal solicitation to commit election fraud. Georgia law says conspiracy to commit election fraud occurs when one “conspires or agrees with another to commit a violation of” Georgia election procedures.
Georgia statute further states criminal solicitation to commit election fraud happens when one “solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.”
The investigation has reportedly focused on a 2020 call made to Mr. Raffensperger in which Mr. Trump asked the secretary of state’s office to “find” the 11,780 votes that constituted his margin of defeat to President Biden.
In another sign of how perilous these legal challenges are, Ms. Willis recently announced that eight individuals have been granted immunity in the case. Those individuals were involved in the so-called fake elector scheme in which Georgia Republicans attempted to send their own slate of electors to Congress’s certification vote.
