Fulton County prosecutors are expected to begin presenting their election interference case against former President Donald Trump and others to a grand jury on Monday morning. Their work could result in the second indictment in two weeks against the Republican for his attempts to cling to power following the 2020 election.
District Attorney Fani Willis is likely to pursue racketeering charges against Trump and a host of his allies related to their work to overturn the results of Georgia’s last presidential election.
Willis’ timeline came into focus on Saturday, when former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and independent journalist George Chidi separately confirmed that they received notifications they will testify before a 23-person grand jury on Tuesday.
Gabe Sterling, a top official in the Georgia Secretary of State’s office who answered questions before a separate special grand jury last summer, was cagey on Sunday when asked by ABC News about whether he has been called to testify this week.
“My lawyer said I couldn’t talk about this too much one way or another, but if I am called, when I am called, I will go and do what I did before: I will tell the truth, answer honestly,” he said.
Others have privately acknowledged to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they’ve been asked to testify.
Given the complexity of explaining racketeering cases to a jury, Willis is expected to begin presenting her case on Monday. Past RICO cases she has spearheaded have taken roughly two days to present. The grand jury that will hear the case this week was convened in June and has been meeting on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Willis’ case could include a handful of incidents that unfolded between Nov. 2020 and Jan. 2021, such as: phone calls Trump placed to nearly a half-dozen Georgia officials; the appointment of a slate of “alternate” GOP electors; and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s falsehood-filled testimony to state legislators about the vote count at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. It could also refer to the harassment of two Fulton County poll workers and the accessing of sensitive election data from voting equipment in Coffee County.
As he has been doing for months, Trump on Sunday lashed out at the Fulton DA, calling her “’Phoney’ (like in perfect ‘phone’ call, get it?) Fani Willis” in a post on his Truth Social site. That was in reference to the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call Trump placed to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking him to “find” the exact number of votes needed to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia.
“The only Election Interference that took place in Fulton County, Georgia, was done by those that Rigged and Stole the Election, not by me, who simply complained that the Election was Rigged and Stolen,” Trump said in another post. “We have Massive and Conclusive Proof, if the Grand Jury would like to see it. Unfortunately, the publicity seeking D.A. isn’t interested in Justice, or this evidence.”
The proceedings are expected to draw national media attention to a heavily-fortified Fulton courthouse.
The sheriff’s office has closed off Pryor Street SW between MLK Jr. Drive and Mitchell Street to traffic, and no public parking is allowed anywhere along the perimeter of the courthouse. Large orange barricades filled with water are also lining the building.
Local law enforcement has been preparing for this moment for months, sending representatives to Trump’s arraignments in New York City and Miami to take notes.
The courthouse itself will also be emptier than usual.
Willis has directed roughly 70% of her staff to work remotely on Monday and Tuesday. She has also requested that Fulton judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings this week.
Not everyone has adhered to that request. Ural Glanville, chief judge of Fulton Superior Court who’s overseeing jury selection for Willis’ Young Slime Life case, said he’s calling 10 jurors on Monday for the trial. But he hasn’t set a schedule for the rest of the week.
“The next several days we’re just kinda taking it one day at a time,” he said.
Staff writers Greg Bluestein and Shaddi Abusaid contributed to this article.
