Prosecutors in Atlanta appeared Monday to unwittingly divulge the offenses they intend to charge former President Donald Trump with in connection with his quest to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
A two-page docket obtained by Reuters, which was briefly posted and then removed from the Fulton County court’s website, showed the 77-year-old could face 13 counts, including violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, conspiracy, false statements, and asking a public official to violate their oath of office.
The Fulton County Clerk’s office issued a statement warning of a “fictitious document that has been circulated online and reported by various media outlets” more than four hours after the docket was uploaded.
“[A]ll members of the media should be reminded that documents that do not bear an official case number, filing date, and the name of the Clerk of Courts, in concert, are not official filings and should not be treated as such,” the statement continued.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis convened a grand jury on Monday, with an announcement on potential charges against the former president and his associates coming as soon as Tuesday.
The grand jury would have to vote on any charges presented against Trump.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELIn a statement, Trump attorneys Drew Findling and Jennifer Little said, “The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has once again shown that they have no respect for the integrity of the grand jury process,” It went on. “This was not a simple administrative mistake. A proposed indictment should only be in the hands of the District Attorney’s Office, yet it somehow made its way to the clerk’s office and was assigned a case number and a judge before the grand jury even deliberated. This is emblematic of the pervasive and glaring constitutional violations which have plagued this case from its very inception.”
Among those who testified Monday were two former Democratic state legislators who attended a December 2020 meeting at which Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani claimed widespread election fraud lost his client re-election.
“On Dec. 10, 2020, when Rudy Giuliani and the former President’s legal team appeared before the Georgia House of Representatives, I upheld my oath [of office] and told the truth in the face of false testimony about our elections,” one of those former legislators, Bee Nguyen, said in a statement released after her testimony.
“Today, I reaffirmed our allegiance to our State and country — by exercising my patriotic duty as a US citizen and telling the truth under oath.”
At least two witnesses, including former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who were slated to testify Tuesday, were brought in Monday afternoon as the panel appeared to be wrapping up its work ahead of time.
Trump said on Truth Social earlier Monday that Duncan “shouldn’t” take part in the hearings, calling him a “nasty disaster” and a “loser.”
According to CNN, prosecutors had uncovered correspondence linking Trump’s legal team, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to an illegal Jan. 7, 2021, “breach of election systems in Coffee County.”
Willis’ nearly two-year probe was prompted by a phone call from Trump to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, in which the then-president emphasized the need to “find 11,780 votes,” enough to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.
Trump has categorically rejected any misconduct.
A Georgia indictment would be the fourth announced against the former president in less than five months.
Trump has also been charged with four federal counts of alleged 2020 election subversion, 40 federal counts of alleged classified national security document hoarding, and 34 Manhattan counts of allegedly manipulating company documents to conceal hush-money payments.
