Trump probes: Georgia prosecutor raises hopes

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ATLANTA (AP) Former President Donald Trump and his allies were tipped off by a prosecutor, but the warning didn’t come from anyone at the Justice Department.

This is from a Georgia prosecutor who has indicated he is likely to seek criminal charges soon in a two-year investigation into election subversion. In an effort to block the release of a special grand jury report, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued in court last week that decisions in the case were imminent and that the publication of the reports would future defendants’ rights may be jeopardized.

Although Willis, a Democrat, did not mention Trump by name, his comments marked the first time that a prosecutor in any of several ongoing investigations tied to the former Republican president has indicated that the charges are may come. The remarks prompted hopes that an investigation focused, in part, on Trump’s call with the Georgia secretary of state could end before an ongoing federal investigation.

I expect to see indictments in Fulton County before I see any federal indictments, said Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University.

In addition to the Georgia investigation, a Justice Department special counsel is investigating Trump over his role in working with allies to reverse his 2020 presidential election loss and his alleged mismanagement of the classified documents.

Trump appeared to face the most serious legal risk from the investigation into a cache of classified materials at his Florida resort, and that threat remains. But that case seems complicated, at least politically, by the recent discovery of classified records at President Joe Bidens Delaware home and an office in Washington. The Justice Department has tapped a separate special counsel to investigate the matter.

Willis opened the investigation into his offices shortly after the release of a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In that conversation, the then-president suggested that Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, could find the votes needed for Trump to overturn a narrow state election loss to Biden, a Democrat.

All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is more than we have, Trump said on the call.

Since then, the scope of the investigations has expanded significantly, covering among other things: a record of Republican voter fraud, Trump’s phone calls and others to Georgia officials in the weeks after the election in 2020, and baseless allegations of widespread election fraud made against state legislators. .

In an interview, Trump insisted he did nothing wrong and that his phone call with Raffensperger was perfect. He said he was very confident that he would not be charged.

He’s supposed to stop violent crime, and that’s his job, Trump said of Willis. Not to go after people for political reasons, that made things perfect.

It’s unclear how Willis’ case will affect the Justice Department’s investigations or what interactions his team will have with federal investigators. Justice Department prosecutors have been cautious in discussing their investigations, offering little insight into how or when they might conclude.

But Willis’ comments indicate the Georgia investigation is on track to be resolved with or without charges on a timetable independent of what the Justice Department plans to do, legal experts said.

Cunningham, the Georgia State professor, said Willis’ comments indicate that the special grand jury’s report contained detail about people the panel and Willis believed should, at the very least, be more investigate.

He would not talk about the release of the report creating prejudice against potential future defendants unless he saw in the report the names of people he saw as potential future defendants, he added.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in November tapped Jack Smith, a former public corruption prosecutor, to act as special counsel overseeing investigations into Trump’s actions leading up to the fatal Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his possession of hundreds of classified documents at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Although Smith and his team of prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas, he has not revealed when his investigation might end or who might be targeted.

Garland declined to discuss the investigations, saying only that no man is above the law and that there are no separate rules for Democrats and Republicans.

FBI agents recently searched the Bidens’ Wilmington, Delaware, home, finding six items containing classified documents, the White House said. Further complicating the Justice Department’s calculus: Classified records were found this month at the Indiana home of Trumps vice president, Mike Pence.

The public disclosures about the Willis case are the result, to some extent, of the unusual nature of the proceedings in Georgia.

Willis in January of last year sought to convene a special grand jury to aid his investigation, citing the need for its subpoena power to compel the testimony of witnesses who would otherwise not speak to him. He said in a letter to the Fulton County chief judge that his office has received information indicating a reasonable possibility that the 2020 election in Georgia is subject to possible criminal interference.

The county’s superior court judges voted to grant the request, and the panel sat in May. Grand juries heard from 75 witnesses and reviewed evidence collected by prosecutors and investigators. Among the witnesses who testified were former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, US Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Georgia state officials Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp.

The panel does not have the authority to issue an indictment, but its report is expected to include recommendations for further action, possibly including potential criminal charges.

The special grand jury was dissolved last month after completing its work and finalizing a report on its investigation. The grand jurors recommended that the report be made public.

News organizations, including The Associated Press, argued for the report to be released. At a hearing last week, Willis said a decision is coming up on whether to pursue an indictment and that he opposes releasing the report because he wants to make sure everyone is treated fairly and we think future defendants will be treated fairly. fair, it is not appropriate at this time to release this report.

Attorneys for witnesses and others identified as targets insisted that Willis was motivated by politics rather than by legitimate concerns that crimes were committed. Among other things, they pointed to his public statements and prior willingness to speak to print and television news outlets.

Danny Porter, a Republican who has served as district attorney in nearby Gwinnett County for nearly three decades, said Willis is venturing into unfamiliar territory. Special grand juries are relatively rare in Georgia, and the law doesn’t provide much guidance for prosecutors, he said.

However, Porter said, it appears that Willis did not cross any ethical or legal red lines that would call into question the integrity of the investigation.

Methodically, he said, I didn’t see anything that made me, Oh, jeez, I’m not going to do that.

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Tucker reported from Washington. AP writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

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