Brookings Institution: Fulton County, Georgia's Trump Investigation

[brooklynite]

Between November 2020 and January 2021, then-President Donald J. Trump led an unprecedented attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair presidential election. Central to that attempt was a multi-faceted effort to reverse his loss, confirmed through multiple recounts and lawsuits, in the state of Georgia. Because of the potentially criminal nature of some of Trump’s conduct, on February 10, 2021, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced a criminal investigation into the activities of the former president and his allies. She has said charging decisions may come as soon as November or December 2022.

In this second edition of our October 2021 report, we review the investigation and its basis. We assess the publicly known facts and relevant law and analyze the extent to which the former president may be held criminally responsible for his conduct in Georgia. We conclude that Trump is at substantial risk of criminal prosecution in Fulton County.

FACTS

Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s election began when he claimed victory in the state before vote-counting concluded. As votes were still being processed from November 3 into the following week, Trump bombarded Georgia election officials with tweets baselessly alleging voter fraud and pushed those officials to diverge from codified election procedures. Meanwhile, his campaign and allies filed a series of lawsuits in state and federal courts challenging his loss. Trump’s efforts escalated as two recounts affirmed Biden’s narrow victory.

In December 2020, Trump reportedly began to place calls directly to Georgia officials, including Governor Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, to urge them to support efforts aimed at decertifying his loss. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, appeared before the Georgia legislature and presented false allegations of fraud and misrepresented the law in an attempt to convince state lawmakers to take extraordinary action to reverse Biden’s win. Later, when his own acting attorney general refused to use the Justice Department in support of Trump’s efforts, Trump maneuvered to install a loyalist atop the department who planned to send a draft letter designed to mislead and influence the Georgia legislature into convening to overturn the election results. Additionally, Trump campaign officials reportedly helped coordinate Republican state officials to meet on December 14, 2020 to sign and submit to Congress and the National Archives a false electoral certificate purporting to show Trump’s victory in the state.

Finally, as the January 6 congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory neared, Trump called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2. In the call, Trump both threatened and pleaded with Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes, thereby tilting the state’s presidential election in his favor.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/second-edition-fulton-county-georgias-trump-investigation/

[malaise]

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We conclude that Trump is at substantial risk of criminal prosecution in Fulton County.