Georgia DA moves to charge Trump with ‘conspiracy to commit election fraud’

Two people briefed on the matter told The Guardian that District Attorney Fani Willis' list of potential charges suggests that prosecutors could ask a grand jury to indict Trump as early as next month.

The list of charges that prosecutors are weighing includes criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and conspiracy to commit election fraud, as well as solicitation of a public or political officer to fail to perform their duties and solicitation to destroy, deface or remove ballots, the outlet reports.

In May, the district attorney had instructed employees to work remotely during the month of August citing potential security risks. A grand jury was selected in mid-July by Willis, deputy district attorney Will Wooten, and special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

DA Willis is also reportedly moving to charge Trump associates with computer trespass crimes for allegedly accessing voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia, and copying sensitive election data in January 2021.

Prosecutors would have to demonstrate that Trump repeatedly asked another person to take part in specific illegal activities that are "likely and imminent" as a result of the solicitation in order to bring a criminal solicitation charge, the outlet reports.

The criminal solicitation charge is in regards to Trump allegedly placing phone calls to chief investigator Frances Watson and Georgia house speaker, David Ralston, as well as reportedly "pressuring" Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to "find 11,780 votes."

According to the outlet, prosecutors are also anticipated to pursue a criminal conspiracy charge. The district attorney's office would only need to demonstrate that two or more people tacitly came to a mutual understanding to further a crime because the conspiracy statute in Georgia is construed broadly.

Willis' office has been investigating potential charges for Trump in relation to the 2020 election for more than two years. A special grand jury in Atlanta heard evidence for around seven months, and recommended charges for more than a dozen people, including Trump.

Georgia's elections in 2020 experienced numerous issues, with as many as 1,000 residents being found to have voted twice in the state’s primary, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $100,000.

In Fulton County just days after the 2020 election, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that election officials had “discovered an issue involving reporting from their work on Friday.” Officials were called back to State Farm Arena to rescan their work.

Raffensperger in December told Fox News that reports of ballots being taken in in suitcases after vote counters went home were false.

Raffensperger's office was revealed in April of 2021 to have received money from the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a Mark Zuckerberg-founded group, in the amount of $5.6 million in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

In June of the same year, Raffensperger opened an investigation into Fulton County’s absentee voting system, with "chain of custody documents for absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes" during the November election being at the center of the investigation.