Ever since the 2020 election and its aftermath, many Americans have been wondering if and when former president Donald Trump would be charged for his role in the scheme to overturn the electoral results and have himself declared head of state for a second term.
Based on new reports from the state of Georgia, it appears the proverbial fat lady is about to sing, and is definitely warming up for her closing aria.
The Washington Post reports that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is on the verge of filing racketeering charges against Trump for attempting to have Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “find” thousands of extra votes that would allow him to claim the Peach State had cast its electoral votes for him.
A special grand jury convened as part of the investigation has completed its work and submitted a report that could include recommendations for charges, a judge announced Monday. The judge scheduled a Jan. 24 hearing to determine whether to release the report publicly. Willis could file charges in the case in the coming weeks.
Imagine the reaction across the world if a DA in Georgia decided to prosecute before U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is also looking into Trump’s actions in regard to the 2020 election, along with his possible culpability in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and the hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Willis hasn’t been shy when it comes to going after the “big fish” who allegedly played a role in helping Trump meddle with the 2020 results.
She has successfully forced Rudy Giuliani, one of the most outspoken advocates of the former president’s false claims about a rigged 2020 vote, to appear before the grand jury. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) testified after unsuccessfully fighting a subpoena all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn appeared before the panel in December after losing his own court fight.
Willis also won a legal battle to secure testimony from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was ordered to appear before the grand jury in December — though it’s unclear whether he did because the proceedings are secret.
And now Willis stands on the brink of history, perhaps becoming the first prosecutor to ever file criminal charges against a sitting or former president. Will she take the next step?
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann thinks so, and had this to say Monday during an appearance on MSNBC:
“So, to me, this feels not even like the calm before the storm. I mean, to me, we are about to see the final step with Georgia charges against the former president. And the final point I’ll make is, we focus so much at the federal level, but these charges are the ones that can stick, because regardless of whether a Republican went into the White House eventually, these charges are not subject to a federal presidential pardon. So, if you are Donald Trump right now, you have to be really concerned about what is going to happen in Georgia and you can be sure he’s going to start attacking her like crazy, and the system. But these are the charges that I think he should be most worried about.”
