As of Tuesday morning, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is within the four-week window in which a possible indictment could be handed down to former President Donald J. Trump, and others, for their involvement in their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 Election in Georgia.
Willis said over the weekend her work was complete as she handed out backpacks to school children in Sandy Springs.
“The work is accomplished,” Willis told 11 Alive at a back-to-school event Saturday afternoon. “We’ve been working for two and half years. We’re ready to go.”
While the children walked away with backpacks and school supplies, potentially, Former President Trump would walk away with indictment.
Last week, county officials placed orange barriers around the Fulton County courthouse on 141 Pryor Street. In April, Willis ordered county employees to work from home during the first three weeks of August, and has asked judges not to schedule other trials for that time.
On Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney rejected Trump’s claims to disqualify Willis from using evidence from the Special Purpose Grand Jury and blocking the looming indictment that might be handed to former President Trump.
“In the future, counsel is encouraged to follow the professional standard of inquiring with chamber’s staff about timing and deadlines before burdening other courts with unnecessary and unfounded legal filings,” Judge McBurney wrote.
The reason Willis is able to declare a timeline for an indictment is because she assembled a Special Purpose grand jury. This move allows the group to interview dozens of witnesses and subpoenaed documents over the course which took nearly seven months. That jury then issued an advisory report which recommended that a number of people be indicted on charges of violating Georgia laws. That report goes to the grand jury and would likely be the reason why Willis could prosecute Former President Trump under the Georgia RICO statute.
The Georgia statute defines racketeering more broadly than the federal law. The difference with the Georgia RICO statute is Georgia does not always require the existence of an enterprise to constitute racketeering.
It is possible that Fulton County DA Fani Willis could narrow down the indictment to former President Trump, former Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer in his effort to orchestrate the fake electors scheme in December 2020, and Rudy Giuliani for his denigrating and humiliating, and false comments to the Fulton County poll workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea’ ‘Shaye’ Moss.
As the U.S. Congress is heading to their August recess, indictment watch is officially underway in Atlanta, even though there is not a set date for an announcement.
“For some, being the subject of criminal investigation can, à la Rumpelstiltskin, be turned into golden political capital, making it seem more providential than problematic,” Judge McBurney wrote in a footnote. “Regardless, simply being the subject (or target) of an investigation does not yield standing to bring claim to halt that investigation in court.”