Former President Donald Trump is facing the consequences after asking a Georgia elections official to “find” votes. Fulton County prosecutors recently instructed state officials to preserve documents related to “attempts to influence” the Georgia election, including Trump’s infamous phone call in which he sought votes to overturn the election. A report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reveals that the county’s district attorney’s investigation is headed to the grand jury. And this is not one of those things that Trump can shrug off after the call was released to the media.
According to the outlet, prosecutors in the county are expected to appear before a grand jury this week to seek subpoenas for documents and witnesses related to their investigation of Trump and some of his top associates for possible election fraud.
“Fani Willis, Fulton’s new district attorney, has said she’s prepared to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” the report states, adding that some people think Trump’s phone call on Jan. 2 with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he asked the Republican to “find” a specific number of votes is grounds to move forward.
“If there were a textbook (example of) how to commit criminal election fraud, this would be it,” Atlanta attorney David Walbert told the news outlet.
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Longtime criminal defense attorney Don Samuel said that they would have to prove that Trump was aware that what he was doing was illegal.
“You’ve got to prove not only that he encouraged the secretary of state to commit a crime, but that he did so willfully and aware that what he was doing was illegal,” he said. That “is kind of an uphill battle, it seems to me when you’re surrounded by lawyers when you’re making the call.”
That’s odd, though, because if I unwillingly break the law, it would still be illegal, but OK.
Willis, the recently elected Democratic prosecutor, said during a recent interview that she has no choice but to investigate. “Nobody is above the law,” she said.
“She indicated she’s investigating several state crimes, including solicitation of election fraud, making false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration,” the outlet reports.
None of this is good news for the former president as investigations into several areas, including financial matters, are increasing after Trump’s disgraceful departure from the White House.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
