The district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, has launched a criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to influence the outcome of the state presidential election, which he loses nail scraper with Joe Biden.
Prosecutor Fani Willis sent letters to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and Attorney General Chris Carr on Wednesday morning, writing that the investigation is a matter of high priority. Copies of letters to the four officials were provided to CBS News.
Sources with the offices of Willis and Raffensperger confirmed that the prosecutor requested documents related to a January 2 phone call recorded Mr. Trump told Raffensperger, among others, that although the letters did not include Mr. Trump does not explicitly mention 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. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”
Willis wrote in her letter that her office “has launched an investigation into attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 general election in Georgia. This investigation includes, but is not limited to, possible violations of Georgia law calling for election fraud, false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, breach of office, and any involvement in violence. or threats related to the administration of the election. “
The letter was first reported by The New York Times.
In a January 10 interview with CBS News »60 minutes, “Raffensperger discussed the call and said he believes the president and his team” are just trying to intimidate me and enchant me to something. “
“He asked us to recalibrate or recalculate, I believe it was, recalculate – somehow get a different answer. But I’m an engineer. And anyone who’s good at numbers knows that you can do anything. calculate what 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 from the White House since election day on November 3. The source said that the call on January 2 with Mr. Trump was the first to include Raffensperger himself.
Raffensperger’s office confirmed on Monday that it was conducting its own investigation into the call.
Willis, a Democrat who is the first black woman to be elected as a district attorney in Fulton County, took office on January 1st.
She requested that the offices of the four top civil servants, who are all Republicans, keep all documents related to the presidential election, “with the special care that the documents can be set aside and kept that can be proved of attempts to to influence the actions of persons who conducted that election. ‘
Asked for comment on the investigation, Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, Willis’ decision to send the letter, criticized on the day the arguments would begin in the former president’s second indictment.
“The timing here is not coincidental given today’s indictment. It’s simply the Democrats’ latest attempt to score political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump, and everyone sees it through,” Miller said.
In her letter, Willis referred to media reports indicating that Mr. Trump and members of his team have contacted several government officials as part of his efforts to block the election. She wrote that her office “is the one agency with jurisdiction that is not a witness to the conduct that is the subject of the investigation.”
Willis wrote that subpoenas can be expected after Fulton County convened its next grand jury in March.
“At this stage, we have no reason to believe that any official in Georgia is a target of this investigation,” Willis added.
Adam Brewster reported for this story.