The scant text messages contained in a recent court hearing provide a deeper look at the chaos that followed as the former president pressured Raffensperger to help prove that Trump won in Georgia – a situation Trump has lost. The call is now the focus of an investigation into Trump, which is set to begin this week, when Atlanta District Attorneys convened a special jury to determine if any of Trump’s actions were related to the Georgia election. – or with those of his allies – they were criminals.
Meadows finally completed this tense phone call in January 2021, proposing that lawyers on both sides reconnect soon.
“Thank you,” Fuchs said. “Wow.”
Fuchs declined to comment.
Fulton County Attorney Fani Willis is investigating Trump’s calls with Raffensperger and another official in the Secretary of State’s office. Trump’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, made presentations to state lawmakers full of electoral lies. a phone call between South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger. and the sudden departure of Byung “BJay” Pak, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Willis is set to sit on the big jury in the middle of a highly contested Republican season in Georgia. He has said he will delay calling witnesses – many of whom are on the ballot – to avoid interfering in the by-elections. Meanwhile, as former Republican Sen. David Perdue challenges Gov. Brian Kemp in the GOP primary, new evidence emerges about Perdue’s efforts to reach out to Georgian officials about the 2020 election results.
For Willis, her investigation is evolving in the context of racist threats that began when she announced an investigation into Trump. To select Monday’s jury, officials plan to block the streets around the courthouse, sniper stations on the roof and have ready-made K-9 police dogs, according to planners. Willis’s prosecutors have also been given bulletproof vests, said a person familiar with the situation.
The sweeping investigation sought to determine not only whether Trump committed crimes, but also whether there was a wider criminal conspiracy to try to overturn Georgia’s election results. In requests to retain documents to Georgia officials in February 2021, Willis said she was investigating possible crimes, such as inciting electoral fraud, making false statements to government agencies, conspiracy, extortion, oath-taking and related violence.
Over the past 15 months, investigators in Georgia have interviewed more than 50 witnesses, with plans to summon at least 30 others, Willis told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and a source familiar with the investigation confirmed to CNN. Once the special judicial committee is set up, prosecutors will be able to call witnesses who may include some of Trump’s closest associates.
“I imagine we will issue calls to a lot of people and that all of them are not going to welcome our invitation to come and talk to us,” Willis told CNN in February.
A special judicial committee does not issue indictments, but has broader powers of inquiry than a standard state judicial committee, as well as the power to issue summonses for witness statements, telephone, email and other records. If the special court proposes an indictment, Willis could then seek out one of the other jurors working regularly in Fulton County.
The investigation into Georgia is evolving as the House select committee has already gathered a wealth of information, including some related to Trump’s efforts in Georgia. The House Selection Committee and Willis’s team have already been contacted for ways to exchange information, according to sources familiar with the situation, although it is not yet clear if he has access to material such as Mendous’s texts. Some of this information could support Willis’ efforts or even open up new avenues for research.
“Any relevant information from wherever it comes from will be reviewed and will be part of the investigation,” said Jeff Disantis, a spokesman for the Fulton County Attorney’s Office.
The text messages from Meadows show Perdue’s efforts to help Trump
Perdue ran for governor last year after Trump – still fierce in Kebb’s role in certifying the 2020 election – chased a Republican to challenge the current governor. Earlier that year, Perdue lost his seat in the U.S. Senate in a run-off election against Democrat John Osoff. It was a loss that many Republicans blamed on Trump, complaining that Trump’s continued allegations of electoral fraud had suppressed the GOP vote.
Now a Trump-backed candidate, Perdue has fully embraced baseless allegations of electoral fraud, opening a debate in April against Kemp, saying, “Guys, let me be very clear tonight, the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.” .
An unannounced text message from CNN, including one of the Meadows selectively submitted to the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6, reveals that Perdue also played a role in trying to influence Geoffrey officials. , while preparing for the second round of the race.
Georgia’s Attorney General Chris “Carr will not help with SOS,” Pardew wrote to Meadows on December 13, 2020. “I have a call to the Governor’s Adviser now to see if he can help.”
The text came days after Trump spoke with Carr and encouraged him not to rally Republicans against a lawsuit filed by Trump allies in the Supreme Court to throw millions of votes from Georgia and other battlefield states. In a response to the Supreme Court on December 10, Carr urged judges to dismiss the Trump-backed lawsuit. (The court dismissed the lawsuit the next day.)
Representatives for Carr and Kemp did not respond to requests for comment on text messages.
In a separate exchange, Perdue sent a message to Meadows on December 29, saying he was helping to settle a call between Giuliani and top Republicans in the Georgia legislature. “I am trying to make this phone call with the leaders of the legislature and Rudy,” Perdue wrote. “I just want to make sure I do what you and the president want.”
After Perdue sent the following text confirming the list of participants, Meadows replied, “Perfect.”
The next day, Giuliani appeared before a subcommittee of the Georgia State Senate, spreading more lies and conspiracies about the 2020 election.
A spokeswoman for Perdue’s campaign declined to comment.
A Meadows lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Giuliani’s lawyer, Bob Costello, declined to comment on the text messages, saying his client had not yet heard from investigators in Georgia.
“The news is not good news,” Costello said.
A long way to go in the Trump case
Willis told CNN in February that she expects some calls to come out in May, followed by others in June. However, he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that he did not intend to call witnesses to testify until June 1, following Georgia’s May 24 primary.
Some of these potential witnesses – including Rafensperger, Carr and Kemp – are on the GOP ballot, facing a series of negative elections. All but Lieutenant Geoff Duncan, who is not running for re-election, received requests to retain documents last year. They are not expected to be the target of the investigation, according to letters of preservation sent by Willis last year.
“I would not ask anyone on the ballot to come and talk to me before May 24. I have campaigned, I know how busy you are, you crazy,” Willis told CNN in a February interview. “I think you could not even think clearly to really give us the type of interview I need. However, once we get to that point, I can not wait until some election in November. I just can not do that.”
Several officials from the Secretary of State’s office participated in voluntary interviews with Willis’s team, and Raffensperger previously told CNN that he would share information if he received a summons. Carr and his staff have not yet been interviewed by investigators, according to his office. Representatives of Kemp and Duncan did not answer any questions.
Willis previously told CNN that she hopes to decide whether or not to prosecute by the end of 2022.
Michael Jay Moore, a former U.S. Attorney for Georgia’s Middle East between 2010 and 2015 under President Barack Obama, said Willis would have to wait for a series of challenges from Trump’s legal team if he proceeded with calls for the strait. of the circle or finally, indictment.
“There is this big crescendo that led to this special big court, then everyone will be waiting to see if there is an indictment or a verdict,” Moore said. “If there is an indictment, you will have this ongoing court battle over whether the state has the legal power and jurisdiction to do so, whether the former president can be indicted or not.”
Moore added: “At the end of the day I just think it is unlikely that a former president will end up in Georgia’s penitentiary system.”
On Trump’s part, people close to him said he was not particularly interested in the Georgia investigation.
Willis has met with Trump’s lawyers on several occasions and has informed them that she is continuing her investigation. If Willis appears to be approaching an indictment, Trump’s lawyers have already asked Willis for a chance to present his case because he should not face charges, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A Trump spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
The threats that followed around …
