MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had an exclusive report Monday night that the Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney’s Office met privately with Donald Trump’s attorney’s in December in the investigation into Trump’s pressuring Georgia election officials to “find enough votes” to give him a win in Georgia’s counting (and three recounts) of the 2020 election results.
Steve Benen explains Why the meeting between Trump’s lawyers and Ga. prosecutors matters:
Nearly a month ago, for no apparent reason, Donald Trump threw a tantrum by press statement — one of many — in which the former president complained, “All the Democrats want to do is put people in jail…. They are destroying people’s lives, which is the only thing they are good at.” The Republican went on to insist that district attorneys, attorneys general, and “Dem Law Enforcement” are “out of control.”
It was an absurd harangue, filled with lazy lies and nonsensical claims in literally every sentence. What was less obvious at the time, however, was why in the world Trump issued this specific statement at that moment. I asked rhetorically a day later, “Is it possible that the former president recently received an unpleasant briefing from his legal team?”
This came to mind yesterday, as Rachel broke some news at the top of last night’s show. Let’s just go ahead and quote the A block directly:
“We can report exclusively tonight that attorneys for former President Donald Trump have now met in person with the Fulton County district attorney’s office in Georgia.”
For those who may need a refresher, let’s review how we arrived at this point.
The trouble started in earnest on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021, when Trump told Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, that he wanted someone to “find enough votes” to flip the state in the then-president’s favor, the will of the voters be damned.
As we discussed soon after, Raffensperger recorded the call, offering the public the opportunity to hear Trump, desperate to claim power he didn’t earn, exploring ways to cheat, begging others to participate in his anti-democracy scheme, and even directing some subtle threats at the state’s top elections official. By some measures, it was among the most scandalous recordings ever made of an American president.
It wasn’t long before some observers questioned whether such efforts were legal. Politico published a report noting that Trump’s antics “could run afoul of federal and state criminal statutes, according to legal experts and lawmakers”:
Georgia state law includes two provisions that criminalize “solicitation of election fraud” and “conspiracy to commit election fraud.” Trump’s detractors also pointed to a federal statute that criminalizes “the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent.”
Anthony Michael Kreis, a Georgia State University law professor, said: “The Georgia code says that anybody who solicits, requests or commands or otherwise attempts to encourage somebody to commit election fraud is guilty of solicitation of election fraud. ‘Soliciting or requesting’ is the key language. The president asked, in no uncertain terms, the secretary of state to invent votes, to create votes that were not there. Not only did he ask for that in terms of just overturning the specific margin that Joe Biden won by, but then said we needed one additional vote to secure victory in Georgia.”
“There’s just no way that if you read the code and the way the code is structured, and then you look at what the president of the United states requested, that he has not violated this law — the spirit of it for sure,” Kreis continued.
It wasn’t long before prosecutors in Georgia started thinking along the same lines: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened a criminal investigation into alleged violations of state election law — which seemed quite sensible, since trying to interfere with the lawful administration of an election is a crime.
And that’s what makes Rachel’s scoop last night so notable: This is becoming far less theoretical. The criminal investigation into the former president’s alleged misconduct has proceeded to the point at which Trump’s lawyers have met in person with the Fulton County prosecutor’s office.
Pro Tip: This almost always occurs towards the end of an investigation into high profile cases.
And within days of that in-person discussion, Trump, seemingly apropos of nothing, issued a statement condemning district attorneys, attorneys general, and “Dem Law Enforcement,” adding that Democrats want to “put people in jail” and “destroy people’s lives.”
Now we have context that we didn’t have at the time.
As for Willis’ ongoing probe, the Fulton County district attorney told The Associated Press this week that “her team is making solid progress, and she’s leaning toward asking for a special grand jury with subpoena power to aid the investigation.”
She specifically told the AP, “I believe in 2022 a decision will be made in that case. I certainly think that in the first half of the year that decisions will be made.”
More from the Associated Press report:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in an interview with The Associated Press last week that her team is making solid progress, and she’s leaning toward asking for a special grand jury with subpoena power to aid the investigation.
A special grand jury does not issue indictments, but a report that informs the decision of the district attorney.
“I believe in 2022 a decision will be made in that case,” Willis said. “I certainly think that in the first half of the year that decisions will be made.”
But Willis told the AP that she hasn’t imposed deadlines on her staff and has urged them to be thorough in their examination.
She’s assembled a team of fewer than 10 people — lawyers, investigators and a legal assistant — who are focused primarily on this case and can consult outside lawyers with particular expertise in certain areas of law, she said.
“We’re going to just get the facts, get the law, be very methodical, very patient and, in some extent, unemotional about this quest for justice,” she said.
Willis declined to speak about the specifics, but she confirmed that the investigation’s scope includes — but is not limited to — a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.
[The probe] became public last February, after Willis instructed Georgia’s top elected officials to preserve any records related to the general election, particularly any evidence of attempts to influence election officials. The probe includes “potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration,” the letters said.
Willis said she has not yet decided whether to ask the chief judge of the Fulton County Superior Court to impanel a special grand jury. While she could decide whether she has enough for an indictment based on evidence and witnesses who speak with her team willingly, she said, a special grand jury can be helpful to compel people who refuse to testify without a subpoena.
“I like investigations to be complete and so we probably would move in the direction of a special grand jury,” she said.
As she has before, Willis said she won’t be rushed or influenced by the intense public interest in this case. [Time is of the essence, counselor. Time is running short.]
“I just think the public should be patient – you know, go on, lead your lives – trust that they’ve elected a district attorney that knows that this is a serious issue, takes it seriously and we’re doing our job here,” she said.
[W]illis, a Democrat, said people unhappy that she’s considering possible criminal charges against the Republican former president have made threats and “expressed their frustration in a way that is so irrational that I believe that they would do me harm.”
Previously a prosecutor for 17 years in the office she now leads, Willis said threats are not new for her.
“They are truly wasting their time. It is not going to deter me from doing my job, period,” she said. “I’m not going to do any less or more because, you know, you try to offend me because I’m Black or female or of a political party. We were elected to do a job and that’s what I’m going to sit here and do.”
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