ATLANTA — In a historic second impeachment, the Senate voted to acquit former president Donald Trump of inciting a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol -- but now, Trump could face prosecution in Georgia.
The Fulton County District Attorney announced Friday that she is investigating a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the former president asked Raffensperger to “find” more votes in his favor and change the outcome of the 2020 election.
Channel 2′s Audrey Washington spoke to a constitutional law professor, who explained what may happen next.
On Saturday, the Senate voted 57 - 43 to acquit the president on charges that he incited the Jan. 6 insurrection, just 10 votes shy of a guilty verdict. Both Georgia Senators, Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, voted to convict.
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Georgia State University constitutional law professor Eric Segall said the focus will now shift to the investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
“When he called our Secretary of State and tried to use the power of the presidency to bully him into doing something illegal. And if that’s something he did, that’s illegal,” Segall said.
In the call, Trump pushed Raffensperger to overturn the election results in Georgia, where President Joe Biden won by a narrow margin of just under 13,000 votes.
“So look, all I want to do is just, I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said in the call. “Because we won the state, Brad.”
Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston spoke exclusively with Willis on Thursday. Willis said she will look at all the evidence before making a decision about whether to file charges against Trump, and what those charges would be.
“I have no idea what I’m going to find,” Willis said. “A good law enforcement officer, a good prosecutor, you walk in with an open mind. You get the facts for what they are. There will be some statutes that we’ll look at. If those facts meet the elements of those statutes, then we’ll bring charges.”
Segall said the Georgia investigation will pose a constitutional question about whether or not the former president can be charged with a criminal act for conduct he engaged in while in office.
“Now I think the answer is yes, no one is above the law in that sense,” Segall said. “But that is not an open and shut question.”
Willis has said that the fact that Trump is a former president will not persuade her in any way.
“Anyone who violates the law will be prosecuted, no matter what their social stature is, no matter what their economics are, no matter what their race is or their gender,” Willis told Huddleston. “We’re not going to treat anyone differently.”
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