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Donald Trump faces increasing legal scrutiny in the crucial battlefield state of Georgia for his attempt to influence the 2020 election there, and that heat now overlaps with Congressional inquiries into the efforts of the former president to overthrow American democracy.
A criminal investigation into Trump’s January 2 call for Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “just find him” 11,780 votes to block Joe Biden’s victory in the state is progressing. The Georgia district attorney investigating the investigation is now also sharing information with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington DC.
Meanwhile, a Justice Department task force investigating threats against election officials nationwide has launched investigations in Georgia, where election officials and workers have received death threats or warnings from violence, including some after Trump publicly singled out an official for failing to support his baseless fraud claims.
Despite these investigations, Trump continues to push forward false allegations of fraud in Georgia. Trump wrote Raffensperger in September asking him to withdraw his certification from election results, which is impossible, and in the run-up to the 2022 election he is trying to topple Raffensperger, along with state governor Brian Kemp. , and other prominent Republicans who defied his demands. to block Biden’s victory.
Former Justice Department officials and voting rights advocates say Trump’s conspiratorial attacks on Georgia election results and threats against public officials must be diligently investigated and pursued if the law enforcement authorities justify it, in order to protect the integrity of the elections and the officials.
Experts add that Trump’s alarming refusal to accept the election result in Georgia and take revenge on Republican officials who ignored his baseless fraud charges could affect a few crucial races in 2022. His efforts may also encourage extremism. and restrictions on voting rights for minorities and others similar to those the Georgia legislature enacted this year.
Justice Department veterans and prosecutors say the criminal investigation launched by Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis into Trump’s appeal to Raffensperger and other Trump efforts to overturn the results of the Georgia, seems well founded, with a lot of public evidence. But they said it will likely be some time before Willis decides to press charges.
Willis said prosecutors were looking into “potential violations of Georgian law prohibiting solicitation of electoral fraud, false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of the oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the administration of elections ”.
The merits of the Georgia investigation were bolstered in late September by the publication of a well-documented 107-page Brookings Institution study detailing Trump’s elevated pressure to block Biden’s victory in the state. The report concluded that Trump faces “a substantial risk of possible state charges based on multiple crimes.”
Benefiting from extensive documentation on the public record, the report notes that Trump’s broad efforts to overturn the result in Georgia included personal contact with the governor, the state attorney general, and the Secretary of State’s chief investigator. State.
“Trump has embarked on a pattern of repeated personal communications aimed at changing the vote count and becoming the winner in Georgia,” said Donald Ayer, one of the authors of the Brookings report and former deputy attorney general of the administration George HW Bush. in an interview.
“He did so in the absence of any even questionable evidence of voting or counting irregularities. Unless there are other currently unknown facts to explain it, this conduct appears to meet the requirements of a number of Georgian criminal laws. “
To advance the Georgia investigation, Willis has reportedly turned in recent weeks to the House select committee reviewing the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol to share documents and information that could help him in the process. his work.
Willis’ outreach to the congressional committee comes as no surprise to some expert observers.
“His resources to fight local crime are already taxed and any investigative action taken on Capitol Hill means his likely marathon of a case against the former president could be a little closer to the finish line,” Michael J Moore, former prosecutor and Democrat of Georgia. , said in an interview.
The district attorney’s progress was highlighted by Raffensperger telling the Daily Beast in August that investigators in Fulton County had “requested documents from us, they have spoken to some of our people and we will cooperate fully.”
At least four people from Raffensperger’s office were interviewed, including lawyer Ryan Germany and COO Gabriel Sterling, according to the outlet.
On another legal front, in recent weeks the FBI has started talks with several Georgian election officials over death threats and other dangerous warnings they received in the months following the election from supporters. Trump falsely suggesting that Georgian officials were involved in the election rigging.
For example, Richard Barron, who heads the Fulton County Electoral Board, told The Guardian he was interviewed by two FBI agents in early September and informed them of two death threats he received, including one in summer “full of white supremacist language”. who warned that he would be “used as a lead”.
“I hope the FBI will make some arrests,” Barron added. “People must be held accountable for threats against public officials. Barron noted that threats against him and his majority black staff exploded after the election, when Democrats also won two Senate seats in the historically red-leaning state. Threats against Barron escalated further after Trump referred to him by name at a rally, he said.
Former Justice Department prosecutors say the task force examining these threats must be aggressive. “In the absence of strong law enforcement, responsible citizens will be reluctant to seek these types of important public jobs, especially if they feel their families will be threatened,” said Paul Pelletier, former acting chief of the fraud section at the DoJ.
But even with the escalation of these investigations, Trump continued to broadcast his false claims about the election results, as he did at a campaign-style rally in Perry, Ga. On September 25, where a few – One of his favorite Georgian candidates spoke, including Rep. Jody Hice, who hopes to defeat Raffensperger in a primary competition.
Trump’s willingness to retaliate against Republican politicians who defied his efforts to reverse Biden’s victory in Georgia has dismayed some veteran members of the party who see them as counterproductive.
“I think Trump’s presence in Georgia has not been good for GOP politics the past two years,” said Republican lobbyist Ed Rogers, originally from Alabama. “Politics is about the addition, and revenge is not compatible with the addition.”
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