Fulton county prosecutors weeks ago complete the internal reviews for expected criminal charges stemming from their investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The review process, where prosecutors run their cases by top deputies to the district attorney Fani Willis to identify potential weaknesses that might see any convictions overturned on appeal, is typically seen as the final step before charges are filed.
Willis has also privately indicated to her senior staff that the prosecutors on the Trump case were sufficiently prepared that they could go to trial tomorrow, the people said. However, an announcement is not expected until August.
In the Trump investigation, prosecutors have developed evidence to pursue a sprawling racketeering case that is predicated on a statute about influencing witnesses and computer trespass by Trump operatives in Coffee county, the Guardian has previously reported.
The extent of Trump’s legal jeopardy remains unclear. But the racketeering statute in Georgia is especially expansive, and attempts to solicit or coerce certain activity – for instance, Trump’s call to the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger – could be included in the indictment.
Willis originally suggested charging decisions were “imminent” in January, but the timetable has been repeatedly delayed after a number of Republicans who sought to help Trump stay in power as so-called fake electors accepted immunity deals as the investigation neared its end.
The district attorney’s office is expected to start summoning witnesses to testify before the grand jury next week, as part of the final presentation by prosecutors that is anticipated to take just a few days before they ask the grand jury to return an indictment, the people said.
Charges stemming from the Trump investigation are expected to come in the first half of August, a timeline inferred from Willis instructing her staff to move to remote work during that period because of security concerns, the Guardian has previously reported.
A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment.
The district attorney’s office has spent more than two years investigating whether Trump and his allies interfered in the 2020 election in Georgia, including impaneling a special grand jury that made it more straightforward to compel evidence from recalcitrant witnesses.
Unlike in the federal system, grand juries in the state of Georgia need to already be considering an indictment when they subpoena documents and testimony. By using a special grand jury, prosecutors can collect evidence without the pressure of having to file charges.
The special grand jury in the Trump investigation heard evidence for roughly seven months and recommended indictments of more than a dozen people including the former president himself, its forewoman strongly suggested in interviews with multiple news outlets.
Trump’s legal team sought this month to invalidate the work of the special grand jury and have Willis disqualified from proceedings, but the Georgia supreme court rejected the motion, ruling that Trump lacked “either the facts or the law necessary to mandate Ms Willis’s disqualification”.
