ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke the law when they tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state is seeking search warrants in the case, a sign that that the far-reaching investigation has entered a new phase.
The revelation came Monday in a court order filed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversees the special grand jury set up to help the investigation. In an order sealing the release of search warrants and related documents, McBurney wrote that District Attorney Fani Willis’s office is “now seeking to obtain and execute a series of search warrants whose affidavits are based on sensitive information obtained during the investigation.” “
Disclosure of the information could jeopardize the investigation, McBurney wrote, “including by evading law enforcement, destroying or tampering with evidence, and intimidating potential witnesses.” It could also pose risks to the “safety and well-being” of those involved in the investigation, he wrote.
It wasn’t immediately clear who the targets of the search warrants are or whether search warrants have yet to be approved by a judge. To obtain a search warrant, prosecutors must convince a judge that they have a probable cause that a crime took place at the location that authorities want to search.
As Willis’s investigation unfolds, public court records in the case have provided a rare glimpse into the workings of a special grand jury that meets behind closed doors.
Willis, a Democrat, launched the investigation early last year, shortly after releasing a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021 phone conversation in which Trump suggested Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could “find” the votes needed are to overturn his votes in defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
In addition to the Trump-Raffensperger call, Willis confirmed early on that she is investigating a call by Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to Raffensperger, the US Attorney’s sudden departure from Atlanta in early January 2021, and statements made during Legislative Committee meetings of individuals , who make debunked claims that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the state elections.
Court filings over the past few months have also shown that Willis is interested in a list of fake voters who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump won the state and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” voters are. She said in a court filing that the 16 Georgia Republicans who signed that certificate were all notified that they were targets of the investigation, which means they could face criminal charges.
Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and Trump attorney, say her client has also been notified that he is a target of Willis’s investigation. He appeared at state Legislative Committee hearings in December 2020, making allegations of voter fraud in Georgia. Giuliani also helped coordinate the fake election plan, Willis wrote in a court filing. He testified before the special jury in August.
Willis’s investigation has also expanded to include a violation of voting equipment at the polling station in a rural Georgia county about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta.
Documents, emails, security video and witness testimony produced in response to subpoenas in a lengthy court case have shown attorney Sidney Powell and other Trump allies hired a computer forensics team to go to Coffee County to investigate equipment there to make complete copies of data and software to elections. Willis is asking Powell for testimony and has also requested documents from the company that employs the computer forensics team.
Another thread Willis seems to be pursuing is alleged attempts to pressure a Fulton County poll worker. A petition filed last month shows she wants to question Harrison Floyd, a director of Black Voices for Trump. Willis said in the petition that Floyd and Trevian Kutti, whom Willis described as a Chicago-based “alleged publicist,” tried to pressure Ruby Freeman. Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, were poll workers falsely accused by Trump allies of pulling fake ballots out of a suitcase during the vote count.
During the course of the investigation, some people who were subpoenaed to testify tried to avoid testifying. Most were unsuccessful.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who is being challenged for re-election by Democrat Stacey Abrams, managed to delay his testimony until after next month’s election.
Graham’s attempt to resist his subpoena is currently pending in a federal appeals court. Willis has said in a court filing that she wants to speak to Graham about calls he made to Raffensperger and his associates, in which he reportedly asked that “certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia be re-examined to determine the possibility of a cheaper one.” President Donald Trump to review the outcome for the former.” Graham has denied any wrongdoing and said his status as a senator protects him from having to testify.
A number of senior Georgia state officials, including Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr, have already testified before the special panel. Others close to Trump who have been questioned include attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro. And the panel is still awaiting testimony from others, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Willis has hinted that she could try to force a statement from Trump himself. The former president hired a team of lawyers in Atlanta and last month denounced the investigation as “purely a political witch hunt”!
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