Trump investigations: The Georgia election interference case

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s prosecution of Donald Trump will be allowed to move forward in Georgia — because her ex has resigned from the prosecution team.

The background: The high-stakes prosecution of Trump and several of his associates for trying to steal Georgia’s 2020 election has been sidetracked in recent months. Defendants had unearthed that Willis and attorney Nathan Wade had a romantic relationship, arguing this was an improper conflict of interest that should get Willis disqualified from the prosecution. A high-profile hearing was held last month in which Willis and Wade testified, denying any impropriety.

Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to Fulton County, Georgia charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The plea came ahead of his scheduled arraignment on September 6, and follows his arrest on August 24. Trump waived his right to appear in person at his arraignment, meaning there will be no footage or images of the former president entering his plea. All of his codefendants also pleaded not guilty and waived their rights to in-person arraignments.

Monday marked the first major hearing in the case over former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia — and the outcome could shape how Trump’s trial ultimately unfolds.

The hearing concerned whether one of the defendants, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, should be tried in federal court instead of state court. Meadows, one of 19 defendants in the case, has argued that the case needs to be heard in federal court because he’s protected by the US Constitution’s supremacy clause, which shields federal officials from state prosecution over acts committed while performing their duties. Federal, not state, courts have jurisdiction over constitutional issues.

The indictment of Donald Trump filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is, to put it mildly, complicated.

The core allegation is simple — that Trump and others engaged in a criminal racketeering conspiracy to try and overturn Joe Biden’s win in Georgia (and nationally). But sprawling out from that, the indictment features 19 defendants, 41 charges, and 161 enumerated acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”

A prosecutor in Georgia has filed charges against Donald Trump over his efforts to steal the 2020 election in that state.

On Monday, Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, charged Trump with 13 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy. And the former president had company. Several of his attorneys, campaign aides, and administration officials were charged as well, including Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. You can read the full indictment at this link.

The legal investigations against former President Donald Trump for his alleged attempt to interfere with the 2020 election results in Georgia are reportedly expanding to cover some actions in Washington, DC, and other states under Georgia’s broad Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute.

The Georgia investigation is just one of three ongoing probes into Trump’s potentially criminal activities during his presidency. It focuses on the former president’s efforts to have Georgia officials dispute or alter the results of the state’s 2020 presidential vote, which narrowly favored President Joe Biden. The two other investigations, both overseen by federal special counsel Jack Smith, concern the alleged mishandling of classified documents at the end of Trump’s presidency and efforts in other states to falsely certify the 2020 election results in his favor.

While the congressional committee investigating January 6 has been holding public hearings and the Justice Department has been steadily securing convictions of hundreds of those who breached the Capitol, a grand jury in Atlanta has been meeting behind closed doors to focus on efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to reverse Joe Biden’s election win in Georgia.

That Georgia investigation intensified this summer, drawing closer to Trump’s inner circle and potentially posing a clearer legal threat to Trump than the other probes into his campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election that culminated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

The House January 6 committee isn’t the only entity investigating former President Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. On Tuesday, a special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, subpoenaed members of Trump’s inner circle, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rudy Giuliani.

While the January 6 committee has been holding hearings on national television, the grand jury has been doing its work behind closed doors since early this year. Vox spoke to Tamar Hallerman, the ace reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution covering the special grand jury who first reported news of the subpoenas, to understand what was happening and how this differs from the congressional committee.