The Fulton County District Attorney (Georgia) has opened a criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to influence the outcome of the state presidential election, which he narrowly lost to Joe Biden.
Prosecutor Fani Willis sent letters Wednesday morning to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and Attorney General Chris Carr in writing that the investigation is ” a matter of high priority “. Copies of letters were provided to the four officials on CBS News.
Sources in Willis and Raffensperger’s offices confirmed that the prosecutor is requesting documents related to a recorded a January 2 phone call Trump made Raffensperger, among others, even though the letters do not explicitly name Mr. Trump or refer to the phone call.
During the call, Mr. Trump asked, “What are we going to do here, people? I only need 11,000 votes. Friends, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”
Willis wrote in his letter that his office “has opened an investigation into attempts to influence the administration of Georgia’s 2020 general election. This investigation includes, among other things, possible violations of Georgia’s law. Georgia that prohibits the solicitation of election fraud, false statements to state and local government agencies, conspiracy, fraud, breach of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the administration of the election. “
The New York Times first reported the letter.
In a Jan. 10 interview on CBS News’ “60 minutes, “Raffensperger discussed the call and said he believed the president and his team were” just trying to intimidate me and do something to me. “
“He was asking us to recalibrate or recalculate, I think yes, recalculate, somehow get a different answer. But I’m an engineer. And anyone with good data, they know you can calculate anything you want, but the numbers are the numbers, ”Raffensperger said.
A source familiar with the matter said in early January that Raffensperger’s office had received 18 attempts at White House calls since election day, Nov. 3. The source said the Jan. 2 call with Mr. Trump was the first to include Raffensperger himself.
Raffensperger’s office confirmed Monday that it was conducting its own investigation into the call.
Willis, a Democrat who is the first black woman elected to serve as Fulton County District Attorney, took office on Jan. 1.
He requested that the officials of the four senior state officials, all Republicans, retain all documents related to the presidential election, “with special care to set aside and preserve those that may be evidence of attempts to influence the actions of the people who administered those elections “.
Asked to comment on the investigation, Jason Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior adviser, criticized Willis’ decision to send the letter the day the arguments began in the former president’s second removal trial.
“The timing here isn’t coincidental given today’s impeachment trial. It’s just the Democrats’ last attempt to get political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump, and everyone sees it,” Miller said.
In his letter, Willis referred to media reports indicating that Mr. Trump and members of his team had contacted several state officials as part of their efforts to cancel the election. He wrote that his office “is the only agency with jurisdiction that is not a witness to the conduct under investigation.”
Willis wrote that citations can be expected after Fulton County convenes its next grand jury in March.
“At this stage, we have no reason to believe that any Georgia official is the target of this investigation,” Willis added.
Adam Brewster contributed to the news of this story.