ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has asked for backup from the Federal Bureau of Investigation a day after former President Donald Trump made statements at a recent rally targeting prosecutors investigating his attempts to overturn election results in Georgia.
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In a Sunday letter to Agent J.C. Hacker with the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, Willis asked for a risk assessment of the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center and also for protective resources including intelligence and federal agents.
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On Saturday, Trump singled out prosecutors working on the case at a rally in Conroe, Texas, calling them “radical, vicious and racist,” and calling on his supporters to stage protests in Washington, D.C., New York and Atlanta if they “do anything wrong or illegal.”
Georgia prosecutors are investigating whether Trump and his allies broke the law when they pressured Georgia officials to overturn the state’s election results.
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“It really is prosecutorial misconduct at the highest level,” Trump said at the rally. “These prosecutors are vicious, horrible people. They’re racist and they’re very sick. They’re mentally sick. They’re going after me without any protection of my rights by the Supreme Court or most other courts. In reality they’re not after me, they’re after you and I just happen to be the person that’s in the way.”
Fulton County judges have granted Willis’ request for a special grand jury to be impaneled on May 2. Willis asked Hacker for a meeting before the investigation begins.
Willis argues that Trump’s rhetoric in Texas is more alarming in light of his statements at the same rally that he would pardon people convicted of crimes during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“We must work together to keep the public safe and ensure that we do not have a tragedy in Atlanta similar to what happened at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Willis said in the letter.
Willis points out that the Fulton County Government Center is in close proximity to the Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta City Hall, federal courthouses and Georgia State University and it is her obligation to keep the area safe as well as to conduct a fair and unbiased investigation.
“My staff and I will not be influenced or intimidated by anyone as this investigation moves forward,” Willis said.
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