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The Atlanta-area district attorney investigating former President Donald Trump and his allies over possible election interference told senior county officials that most of her staff will be working remotely for many days during the first three weeks of August, a sign that she may bring charges against her -profile case within that period.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) earlier said in a letter to law enforcement that she would announce possible charges in the case between July 11 and September 1.
But in a letter Thursday to Fulton County Superior Court presiding judge Ural Glanville, Willis appeared to narrow that window even further, writing that her office staff is reduced by about 70 percent on most Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays will be days when the major criminal courts are supposed to meet – from July 31st to August 18th.
She noted in the letter that most judges will be attending a conference in the first week of August where few in-person hearings will take place, and requested that there be no hearings or in-person hearings from August 7-14. More than 20 other senior county officials were copied in the letter, including Sheriff Pat Labat, the court clerk and the entire county courthouse.
Willis noted that during the remote phase, “my executive team, all armed investigators, my case-taking department and the staff in the juvenile court building will be working every day.” She added that all face-to-face meetings scheduled during the set timeframe would be held directly by senior management.
“Thank you for your consideration and support in keeping the Fulton County Judicial Complex safe during this time,” Willis wrote in the letter, first reported by the New York Times.
Willis has been investigating Trump and his allies for possible interference in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. A special grand jury investigating possible criminal offenses concluded in January and recommended indictments — although the panel’s final report and those recommendations remain classified “to protect the rights of future defendants,” according to Judge Robert McBurney, who presided Proceedings of the special grand jury oversaw.
Trump’s Georgia-based legal team has tried to shut down every potential case before the charges are dropped. In March, the former president’s attorneys urged that Willis’s office be barred from any possible trial and that the special grand jury’s final report and all evidence obtained during the investigation be thrown out. The motion was later joined by Cathy Latham, a Georgia Republican who served as Trump’s deputy voter and was named a target of the investigation.
Willis declined in a statement filed Monday, writing that the Trump legal team’s request was “procedurally flawed and made arguments that were unfounded.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s attorneys requested three weeks to file a response to Willis’ request. But in a Friday order, McBurney noted that the court had received “well over five hundred pages of information” on the issues raised. “That is sufficient,” McBurney wrote, adding that there would be no further briefing unless requested by the court “in writing.”
The move suggests a crucial order or hearing is likely to be forthcoming in the controversy – but McBurney did not provide details on his timetable.
Willis has been investigating possible interference in the Georgia election for more than two years. She launched a criminal investigation into possible election interference in March 2021 after the Washington Post published a phone call between Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), in which the former president told the state’s top election official that he had to “11,780.” find”. Voices.”
The District Attorney had waited this spring to announce possible charges in the case, but postponed it as the investigation continued. According to recent developments, at least eight of the alternate Republican voters previously named as targets of the investigation have accepted immunity in the case and are cooperating with prosecutors.
But Willis’s decision to delay a possible indictment until the summer also stemmed from concerns about the preparedness of local law enforcement in a case that has nationwide ramifications and for which she and her office have been the subject of threats.
Last year she asked the FBI for security assistance after Trump attacked her during a rally in Texas.
In recent months, Trump, who continues to claim that the 2020 Georgia election was “stolen,” has renewed his attacks on Black Willis, calling her a “racist Atlanta prosecutor.”
“A local racist Democratic district attorney from Atlanta is raring to go and doing everything in her power to charge me with an absolutely perfect phone call,” Trump told his supporters in April, just hours after he was criminally charged in the York tax case.
Weeks later, Willis first briefed local and state law enforcement agencies on their summer roadmap, urging that “due to this upcoming announcement, increased security and preparedness is required in the coming months.”
