As potential charges against former President Donald Trump in Georgia loom, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis warned a group of county leaders over the weekend to “stay alert” and “make decisions that keep your staff safe.”
In the same group email, obtained by the AJC, Willis forwarded an obscene message she’d recently received as an example of the threats her office has gotten since opening an investigation into possible election interference in the 2020 Georgia elections.
The message called Willis a “corrupt (racial expletive)” and threatened, “You are going to fail, you Jim Crow Democrat (expletive).”
Willis explained to the group, “I am sending to you in case you are unclear on what I and my staff have come accustomed to over the last 2½ years. I guess I am sending this as a reminder that you should stay alert over the month of August and stay safe.”
She ended the note, “I took an oath. No one other than the citizens of Fulton County put me in this seat. I have every intention of doing my job. Please make decisions that keep your staff safe.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Fulton County Solicitor Keith Gammage responded to Willis and the entire group.
“The awful communication that you received is meant to threaten, harass and intimidate, not just you, but all of us,” Gammage wrote. “The sender and his or her ilk has and will continue to fail.”
Willis’ warning to county leaders comes as a Fulton County grand jury weighs possible indictments this month related to her investigation. All signs point to charges against Trump and several associates.
The latest indication of heightened security related to the grand jury can be seen downtown, where orange barricades have been placed outside the entrance to the Fulton County Courthouse and multiple courthouse workers have been instructed to work from home starting today and for much of the month of August.
Also over the weekend, Willis told 11Alive News after a school supply giveaway event, “The work is accomplished. We’ve been working for two-and-a-half years. We’re ready to go.”
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WAIT, WAIT. A hearing has been set for next week on former President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting possible criminal interference in the 2020 presidential election here in Georgia.
The AJC’s Bill Rankin reports the chance of Trump succeeding in his effort to remove Willis first is considered a long shot by legal analysts.
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Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
SKY HIGH. Former President Donald Trump’s spiraling legal scandals have done nothing to hurt his political trajectory. A new Times/ Sienna poll released Monday shows the former president crushing his rivals in the 2024 GOP primary field, with support from roughly 54% of likely Republican voters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, long expected to be Trump’s toughest competition, sits at 17%, while the rest of the field is hovering in the low single digits.
The scandals are racking up some serious bills, though. The cost of Trump’s legal fees? A $56 million tab that continues to rise. But he’s not footing the bill out of his own pocket — his donors are.
That’s according to The Washington Post, which reported that Trump’s Save America PAC will disclose roughly $40.2 million in legal spending later today for ongoing litigation involving charges in New York, Miami — and potential indictments in Atlanta and Washington.
That’s in addition to another $16 million that Save America has already dished out over the last two years to finance Trump’s multistate legal entanglements.
Separately, the New York Times reports that the PAC has sought the return of a $60 million contribution it made to another committee backing Trump — a potential sign of an impending cash crunch as Trump wages a comeback bid as his legal peril deepens.
And a new, parallel fundraising effort has been launched to help Trump friends and allies with their own legal exposure, since many are facing massive legal bills related to the former president’s entanglements.
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Credit: David Barnes/AJC
Credit: David Barnes/AJC
START YOUR ENGINES. Hot off the presses and ready for the “never too early” files, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has told fellow Republicans he’s running for governor in 2026, Greg Bluestein scoops.
The second-term Republican is a close ally of Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term limited and cannot run for reelection. From the piece:
Carr has been building the foundation for a run for higher office since passing on a 2022 bid for the U.S. Senate, and he's told friends and prospective supporters that he's working now to line up donors and grassroots advocates long before the election.
Carr didn't dispute that he plans to run for Georgia's top job in 2026 but said through a spokesman his priority is helping Republicans win next year.
Carr’s moves could pressure the many other Republicans whose names have been in the 2026 mix to make their plans known sooner rather than later. The list includes Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, megadonor and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, and plenty of others.
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Credit: Smiley N. Pool/TNS
Credit: Smiley N. Pool/TNS
KEMP CASH. Gov. Brian Kemp’s federal PAC included a few interesting tidbits in its most recent financial disclosure.
- The governor received a $5,000 contribution from Harlan Crow, the billionaire Republican donor facing scrutiny over gifts to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, including purchasing Thomas’ mother’s Savannah home. The top donors were Kenneth Slater and James Stanard, who chipped in $25,000 apiece.
- Kemp transferred $500,000 from his state leadership committee — the financial vehicle that allows him to raise unlimited cash donations — to his federal PAC, which ended June with about $250,000 on hand. That crucial tidbit means that Kemp’s fundraising for his committee, which is widely associated with his role as governor, could be used for a future federal effort down the road.
- The PAC’s biggest single expenditure is a $100,000 payout to Erick Erickson, the conservative WSB radio personality, to co-host an upcoming convention known as The Gathering, which is set to bring in at least two White House hopefuls later this month.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
TEEN ANGST. The Georgia Teen Republicans held a convention in the state Senate chamber Friday that drew an array of prominent GOP officials from across the conservative spectrum.
Among them was Kandiss Taylor, the far-right conservative who was trounced by Gov. Brian Kemp in last year’s GOP primary but has since parlayed pro-Donald Trump lies to a position of leadership.
Now chairwoman of the party’s 1st District, Taylor repeatedly raised questions in front of the teens about the 2020 elections.
She also said Georgia is the most important state for Republicans in 2024. “Because without Georgia, we don’t win the White House,” said Taylor. “Without Georgia, we’ll continue to have inflation, furries, litter boxes, immorality.”
We confess we’re not attuned to every conspiracy theory out there — Taylor’s recent rant against globes was also a new one — but we think she’s referring to a lie that school administrators are providing litter boxes to students who “identify as cats” that has been repeatedly disproven.
Other speakers included Air Force veteran Kelvin King, who recounted his doomed effort to defeat Herschel Walker in last year’s GOP primary for the U.S. Senate, an experience he said helped reinforce his conservative values, not diminish them.
“The word on the street was that Herschel Walker couldn’t lose a primary but couldn’t win a general election. From that point on, I stayed in. I wanted to show my family and our supporters that I’m a man of character. When I say something, I mean it.”
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Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
SOS. Officials are considering a more extensive rollout of upgrades to Dominion voting machines following a closed-door meeting at the Capitol between Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Republican state Senate leaders, Mark Niesse reports.
The senators who attended called the meeting “collaborative” and “positive,” but the issue of Georgia’s election security remains a political lightning rod, even between Republicans.
As we told you in The Jolt on Friday, Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs issued a reminder that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the man who called the meeting with Raffensperger, was among the legislators who invited Rudy Giuliani to state Capitol hearings in 2020.
“These are the people who gave Rudy Giuliani multiple hearings to make claims so bizarrely inaccurate that he won’t even defend them in court,” said Fuchs. “They refuse to comment on that as they attack the guy who told you the truth and was proven right by time and endless investigations.”
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- It’s a quiet week in D.C. with Congress in recess until after Labor Day and President Joe Biden at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
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Credit: (Courtesy photo)
Credit: (Courtesy photo)
DOG OF THE DAY. It’s back to school season for some of you, but graduation day for Ernie, just one of the puppies raised in Atlanta for Southeastern Guide Dogs.
Ernie comes to us from AJC subscriber Teri Smith, but he’ll soon be off to advanced training, where his people hope he will one day become a guide dog for a visually impaired person or a service dog for a veteran.
Oh the places you’ll go, Ernie! But for now, you’re graduating with honors as our Dog of the Day.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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