Fulton County sent deputies to Miami ahead of Trump arraignment
Fulton County DA Fani Willis says she expects to file charges this summer in her investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged 2020 election interference.
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Ahead of what District Attorney Fani Willis has called an “historical decision this summer,” Fulton County deputies were in Miami Tuesday as Donald Trump appeared in federal court in his latest round of legal challenges.
The deputies were there to observe how local law enforcement authorities were preparing before, during and after Trump’s arraignment, when he became the first ex-president in history to be criminally charged by the federal government he once oversaw.
Earlier this year, Willis - who has been investigating alleged 2020 election interference by the nation’s 45th president for more than a year - notified Fulton County deputies she will announce charges from her investigation sometime between July 11 and Sept. 1.
She has also notified Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville her office plans to work remotely during the first three weeks of August and asking no trials be scheduled during that time.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office also said it had sent deputies to New York ahead of DA Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump earlier this year.
Last year, Willis opened a criminal investigation “into attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia General Election.” Willis continues alleging Trump attempted to interfere in Georgia’s election, a contest that saw Joe Biden become the first Democrat to win Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Willis has said her grand jury heard from 75 witnesses. Some of the more notable figures were Gov. Brian Kemp; Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr; Raffensperger; former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan; former White House official Mark Meadows; former U.S. House speaker and Georgia congressman Newt Gingrich; and Republican South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Trump has accused Willis of conducting a “strictly political witch hunt.” Trump announced his 2024 White House candidacy last November.
Last year, Raffensperger told a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that Trump’s claims of 2020 election fraud “were false.”
Raffensperger, along with Gabriel Sterling, the office’s chief operating officer, appeared before the Democrat-led House Select Committee’s nationally televised public hearings. Raffensperger told the committee that the 2020 election went “remarkably smooth,” with average ballot-casting wait times between two to three minutes statewide. “I felt we had a successful election,” he said.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has attacked both Bragg’s and Willis’ investigations. Any conviction from Bragg, Florida Special Counsel Jack Smith, or Willis would not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.
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