Donald Trump could add another case to his judicial tally. A grand jury was recently summoned in Georgia and is threatening to bring criminal charges against the former president for his attempts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in the state. The prosecutor in the case, Fani Willis, who does not have a particularly good relationship with the potential defendant, will be able to present her case before two juries.
As reported by The Associated Press, Fulton County usually has two juries sitting simultaneously on a case. In other words, Willis will be able to present the evidence before both groups, and as long as one of them decides to press charges, the investigation will move forward. If the two juries dismiss the pleadings, the investigation is closed.
The former president's problems lie rooted in two issues: his famous phone call with Brad Raffensperger (Georgia's Secretary of State), in which he slipped in that he needed to find enough votes to win the election, and his efforts to assemble a sort of surrogate constituency.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis arriving for selection of grand jurors, some of whom will consider charges against former President Donald Trump for his alleged election meddling after Georgia’s 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/HsGThPk83c
— Doug Reardon (@ReardonReports) July 11, 2023
Donald Trump and Fulton County, Georgia
In the days after November 3, 2020, Joe Biden outperformed Trump in Georgia. When the count ended, the Democrat was up 11,779 votes out of more than 5 million. The Republican's legal team tried unsuccessfully to prove election interference and cases of fraud sufficient enough to be able to skew the numbers. Now, the situation could turn against them, especially in Fulton County.
U.S. Attorney Willis has been at the forefront of the investigation from the beginning and is trying to determine whether Trump violated state laws in trying to reverse President Biden's victory in Georgia. Conversely, the former president accuses Willis of being biased against him, something he already presented before Judge Robert McBurney of the Fulton County Superior Court. The magistrate has already ruled against Willis in the past, particularly when he ruled that Willis could not bring a criminal case against Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, one of 16 Trump supporters who filed false documents claiming to be the state's presidential electors.
According to McBurney, the prosecutor had a conflict of interest because she had spearheaded a fundraiser for Jones' Democratic rival in the lieutenant governor's race. The New York Times reported that "Willis wrote a letter to law enforcement officials in April that a decision on any charges against Trump or others would be made between July 11 and September 1."
