ATLANTA – Fulton County prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to block Georgia’s election results, including a call he made to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump pressured him has to “find” enough votes to help him reverse his loss.
Fani Willis, the newly elected Democratic prosecutor in Fulton County, on Wednesday wrote a letter to numerous government officials, including Mr. General election. “
According to the letter, Mr. Trump not named by name is related to his intervention in the election in Georgia, according to a government official with knowledge of it. A copy of the letter was obtained by The New York Times.
‘This investigation includes, but is not limited to, possible violations of Georgia law prohibiting the temptation of electoral fraud, making 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, ”reads the letter.
In addition to mr. Raffensperger, the letter was sent to a number of other top Republican officials in the state: Gov. Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, and Attorney General Chris Carr.
The investigation came when Mr. Trump faces a second indictment in Washington this week, on a charge of “incitement to insurrection” for his role in stirring up the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6. The violence that day followed weeks of falsehood, the former president claims that election fraud deprived him of the victory, also in Georgia, where he lost by about 12,000 votes.
Two months after Joseph R. Biden Jr. if the winner was declared, Mr. Trump ruthlessly attacked election officials in Georgia, including Mr. Raffensperger and mr. Kemp, and claims they are not doing enough to uncover cases of voice fraud affecting the outcome. In addition to the call to Mr. Raffensperger, he also called Mr. Kemp called and pressured him to convene a special legislative session to reverse his election loss. Later that month, Mr. Trump called a state investigator and pressured officials to “find fraud,” according to those familiar with the call.
The investigation makes Georgia the second state after New York where Mr. Trump faces a criminal investigation. And it comes in a jurisdiction where potential jurors are unlikely to be hospitable to the former president; Fulton County includes most of Atlanta and overwhelmingly supported President Biden in the November election.
The Fulton County investigation comes on the heels of a decision by Mr. Raffensperger’s office to conduct an administrative investigation.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, said in a statement that ‘the timing here is not coincidental, given today’s accusation. This is simply the Democrats’ latest attempt to score political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump, and everyone sees it through. ”
Mrs. Willis has been weighing for several weeks whether she wants to open an investigation, after Mr. Trump’s call on Jan. 2 to Mr. Raffensperger, warns election experts who call it an extraordinary intervention in the electoral process of a state.
Former prosecutors have said Trump’s calls could jeopardize at least three state laws. The one is criminal request to commit election fraud, which can be an offense or an offense; as an offense, it is punishable by at least one year in prison. There is also a related conspiracy charge that can be prosecuted as an offense or an offense. A third law, a criminal offense, includes’ intentional interference ‘in’ others’ performance of electoral duties’.
Mr. Biden’s victory in Georgia was reaffirmed after election officials reaffirmed the state’s presidential election results in three separate counts: the initial election; a hand count ordered by the state; and another narrative, requested by mr. Trump’s campaign and by machines completed.
Mr. Biden was the first Democrat to win the Georgia presidential election since 1992. Trump accused Kemp and Raffensperger of not doing enough to help him reverse the result in the weeks after the election. Mr. Kemp and Mr. Raffensperger each had numerous attacks from Mr. Trump resists what the governor called “unfortunate” and called on the Secretary of State to resign.
The Georgia investigation comes because Mr. Trump is also constantly being investigated for criminal fraud over his finances by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and a civil fraud investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The mere start of an investigation into the polarizing former president could be a career-defining moment for Mrs. Willis, who took office in January. She is the first African-American woman to hold the post in Georgia’s most populous province, and she has faced some daunting challenges: Atlanta comes a year with a large number of murders, and Mrs. Willis promised an ambitious series of changes. to the office, as well as an overview of her controversial handling of the police shooting at a Blackman, Rayshard Brooks, in June.