On Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she expects to announce indictments this summer in the probe into whether former President Donald Trump and his allies attempted to illegally interfere with the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, the Associated Press reported.
In a letter to Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, Willis said she expects to announce her decision sometime between July 11 and September 1. Willis explained that she wanted the Sheriff’s Office to have the time to coordinate with local, state, and federal agencies to ensure they are “ready to protect the public.”
Willis said “open-source intelligence” indicates that any announcement about indictments in the case could “provoke a significant public reaction” including “acts of violence” that could endanger public safety.
The District Attorney’s letter, first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was also sent to the Atlanta police chief and the head of the county’s Emergency Management Agency.
In total, 17 people were named as targets in the investigation that was initially launched by Willis in March 2021.
Willis said at the time that she opened the investigation after the January 2, 2021 phone call between then-President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump allegedly asked Raffensperger to “find” the votes he needed to overturn Georgia’s election results.
In January 2022, Willis empaneled a special grand jury to look into possible election interference.
During the course of the probe, the scope of the grand jury investigation expanded significantly, encompassing other matters, including the slate of fake electors, additional phone calls from Trump and his allies to officials in Georgia in the weeks after the 2020 election, and the allegations of widespread voter fraud made to Georgia lawmakers.
In response to Willis possibly bringing charges in the summer, Trump’s legal team in Georgia said in a statement that Willis’ letter does not outline a “potential timetable” for the decisions Willis has already indicated were coming.
Trump’s lawyers said a “substantive legal challenge” had been filed on behalf of Trump and District Attorney Willis’ Office “has yet to respond.”
