Donald Trump has accused Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, of seeking to interfere with his 2024 re-election campaign and trying to indict him on “ridiculous grounds”.
The former United States President took to his Truth Social platform on Monday, to lay the accusation.
Willis has spent more than two years investigating efforts by the former president and his allies to overturn the 2020 results in Georgia, including a January 2021 call in which Trump urged the state’s top election official to “find” enough votes to deliver him a victory.
Two witnesses who previously received subpoenas confirmed at the weekend that they have been told to appear before a grand jury in Atlanta on Tuesday, the clearest indication yet that Willis will try to get a criminal indictment in the case.
Willis has already indicated she would seek charges this month, and security measures have increased around the county courthouse in recent weeks.
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“No, I didn’t tamper with the election!” Trump wrote in an all-caps post on Truth Social on Monday, continuing to falsely claim that the election he lost to President Joe Biden was marred by widespread fraud.
“Those who rigged & stole the election were the ones doing the tampering, & they are the slime that should be prosecuted. I made a perfect phone call of protest. Why wasn’t this fake case brought 2.5 years ago? Election interference!” he said.
If Trump is charged in Georgia, it would mark his fourth criminal indictment since March and his second on charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The former Republican president pleaded not guilty in a Washington, DC, courtroom in early August to four federal charges linked to election interference allegations, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
US prosecutors have tied Trump to the riot at the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021, when a mob of his supporters sought to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory.
Trump also faces state charges in New York over a hush-money payment to an adult film star and federal charges linked to accusations he mishandled classified government documents at his Florida estate.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released in late July showed Trump with 54 percent support among likely GOP primary voters, compared with 17 percent for his closest challenger, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
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Still, some legal experts said the Georgia case could be one of the most potent against Trump.
“I think people are going to be surprised at the level of preparedness and the level of sophistication of the prosecution,” said Clint Rucker, who was a prosecutor in Fulton County for more than 25 years before leaving in 2021. “That office is not some small backwoods country hick organisation that fumbles the ball and doesn’t know how to do its job.”
Willis is expected to charge multiple people, possibly by using the state’s broad racketeering statute. Her investigation began soon after Trump made a phone call to the state’s top election official, Republican Brad Raffensperger, and urged him to “find” enough votes to alter the outcome.
In addition to efforts to pressure Georgia officials, Willis has examined a breach of election machines in a rural county and a plot to use fake electors in a bid to capture the state’s electoral votes for Trump rather than Biden.
In addition to efforts to pressure Georgia officials, Willis has examined a breach of election machines in a rural county and a plot to use fake electors in a bid to capture the state’s electoral votes for Trump rather than Biden.
